Cod Almighty | Diary
Unfathomable
11 December 2017
Irregular Diary writes: It was #GTFCUnityDay on Saturday and I have to say for all the qualms about the timing after the much-dissected fans' forum, it was great to see so many different players out and about in the run-up. They were pictured in different schools across the town trying to inspire the next generation of fans to think there is more to football than what they see on the TV. It's been a big thing missing over the last couple of seasons and I for one hope it continues, cos poor Jimmy Mac can't do it all on his own!
The disappointing thing, on the back of Grimsby Town Sports & Education Trust doing such a good job during the week, was the actual uptake of free tickets. It wasn't a junior free with a paying adult: it was it was an adult and junior free. I expected far more in the Osmond end (discounting the FGR fans in the corner) than the sparse crowd in there. Was it the cold, the Slade effect or something else? I've been all over the country for a freebie so it would be interesting to know why there wasn't a larger attendance in there.
Something that did give me festive cheer was the backing of the CARE foodbank event. I don't know a huge amount about it but it seems to have started via a couple of Town fans via @gtfcforthemany on Twitter. It really grew legs with the Mariners Trust auctioning off a piece of memorabilia and donating food as well as the club also holding a raffle for exiles to get involved. From tweets I've seen, the guys have done a sterling job with a huge amount of food collected which I'm sure will be well received by many families in the area at a time of year that is particularly tough on the bank balance.
Match-wise, Mr Cooper's idea of tactics was unfathomable. Well, they were to me, sat in the Pontoon. Playing out from the back and taking as much time as possible on everything from the off was an odd one. On discussion at half time we thought maybe the keeper was carrying an injury, and although playing out from the back continued he did put his foot through it a couple of times. To add to the confusion the FGR manager didn't think the penalty was a penalty. It has also been confirmed by Sladey after the game that Sam Jones won't be taking penalties any more. I think Ben Davies will be a very reliable replacement.
Three wins from three gives the table a healthier look going into a difficult period with two away games at the two teams currently toe to toe for top spot. The turnaround in fortunes for Notts County since a change of ownership and management is one that most clubs in their position would dream of. Luton are in a scary purple patch and scoring for fun. Last season we picked up four points from those games, so for Christmas, lads, I'd much appreciate the same!
Changing focus, I couldn't write my monthly diary without mentioning the Brighton/Palace situation. I'm not going to speculate on what went on that evening at Brighton a couple of weeks ago so I'd certainly not expect official accounts to do the same. Except they did – it was reported from the Sussex Police account that a number of Palace fans had gone tooled up with knuckledusters and knives. That tweet you'd expect to be right (well, not us, because we know 'misunderstandings' can happen) and newspapers, who should check these things, ran with it.
It was only thanks to Palace fanzine Five Year Plan that the truth came to light. The police issued a statement saying their original tweet wasn't in fact correct. A round of applause you'd say? No, it was only issued after @FYPFanzine had slapped in a freedom of information request. It begs the question as to how far this misinformation would have travelled if they hadn't. And why on earth should a fanzine have to be doing this? How often does this kind of misinformation happen without fans actually knowing about it?
FYP has slapped another FOI request in since the the apology and I wish them all the best. I currently have two outstanding FOI requests with two different police forces which are now both with the Information Commissioner's Office (responsible for ensuring compliance with FOI law) after they were basically ignored. That's where I'll leave that for now.
Because this is the last diary I will be writing before Christmas, I shall bid you all a merry Christmas and wish you safe travels if you're either an exile travelling back home over the festive period or one of the army travelling to Nottingham and Luton.
UTM