Cod Almighty | Diary
What are you gonna do, fire me?
18 February 2019
Trentside Diary writes: Another weekend, another three points ticked off. It wasn’t the best game of football ever but I enjoyed it. We dealt with the opposition’s physicality calmly and kept plugging away. There were a few characters who shoved, kicked out and were generally not very pleasant but our youngsters didn’t let it rattle them and ground out a win. It’s a sign of a good team when they can deal with these sort of tactics and not let it get to them.
So things are shaping up nicely on the pitch. Let’s have a look at how good we look elsewhere.
We have the pleasure of our major shareholder’s shindig to come this week. Let’s hope that’s not a car crash but past history suggests it won’t be good.
Mr Jolley is auctioning his manager of the month award in aid of the Fisherman’s Mission and the bidding closes today. What a great choice of charity and somehow he just gets it.
The Mariners Trust and various individuals do some important work in the community. The commitment to Sporting Memories is excellent and such a great thing to do for a group of people often sidelined by society, those suffering from dementia. The collection for a foodbank just before Christmas was a great thing to focus on.
All good stuff, but a club truly engaged with its community would be doing more of these kind of things all of the time. Events that connect with fans and the wider community. This is a two-way thing. The more that youngsters are engaged, the more likely they are to want a Town top for their birthday than something from a club they may only ever see on television.
A club who seem much more determined to get it right are those irritating imps down the road. Fans have moaned about decisions made, but take a look at a list of some of the things they have done since they rejoined the Football League and it’s clear that they are trying to engage the community and interact with fans.
Since our return to the EFL (80 wks) the off-field team have implemented the below (+ more I’m sure we’ve forgotten)
— Liam Scully (@liamjscully) 15 February 2019
You don’t achieve this in 18 months without thinking about the fans. By all means disagree with some decisions we make, but please afford us balance & perspective pic.twitter.com/bmqdzaAe64
While there are many of us who would give up our time, the way fans have been spoken to and treated recently just disengages them. The behaviour of the panel at last season's fans' forum with Slade, Fenty and the other numpties was ghastly and not once has Fenty or any of his cronies apologised publicly and suggested that maybe they let things get out of hand.
I am sure there are those behind the scenes at BP who understand the concept of a community club and are embarrassed by the PR blunders we have suffered when the non-chairman takes to a public forum, whether in person or electronically. Mr Jolley certainly gets it right. He appears to be an intelligent man with a natural way with fans and the media and an innate understanding of the right thing to do.
Like many supporters, I’ll go to matches but given how we are routinely treated by the club, that’s the limit of my involvement. Considering the wealth of talent and commitment out there, that’s a huge shame. It’s clear we need not just a change of ownership but some fresh ideas. Smoking bubbles anyone? UTM!