Cod Almighty | Diary
It's just a graveyard for a city trader who lost his nerve
14 June 2019
If you're aware that the club unveiled our three new shirts for the 2019-20 season, and that we signed striker Matt Green from Salford this week, then you're pretty much up to speed with the key events at Blundell Park.
If you want to know about the things that haven't happened yet, or probably won't happen at all, then, well, you know where to go. Once upon a time, your West Yorkshire Diary used to go to a mate who worked in a newsagents down St Peter's Avenue for fairly credible rumours, but that source dried up a little while back. Now I get them online, where the quality of rumour is, quite frankly, abysmal. That's because any fucker can say anything they like.
The rumours tend to be either made up by bored teenagers searching for attention, or they're relatively genuine from credible sources – who then act like bored teenagers themselves by giving us crypric clues to assert their tribal 'I know more than you' dominance.
If you've got something to say, say it. If you're scared that the rumour may not be true, then don't say it. This quest for adulation from fellow fans irritates me more than the people who push the 'wait' button at a pedestrian crossing, even though you've clearly pressed it already.
And, while nothing in particular has irritated me, here's something else – why do we get so excited about the release of new fixtures? The majority of Town fans I've spoken to aren't even sure they want to renew their season ticket, yet everyone gets the horn for the day the new fixtures come out because they can start planning their away trips.
Yeah, like our kick-off times are locked in and never get adjusted on the advice of whichever locally-misinformed police force happens to be running the show that day.
Back to the rumours, then, and while this one has been corroborated in the local press I'm still stunned that we think we have any genuine chance of bringing Andy Cook back to the club. Goalscorers are hard to find – and when you finally find one, they don't come cheap. We might now be in the same division as Walsall, but I'd imagine that his wage demands would be a little loftier than what we've been dishing out these past few seasons, and that's before you even consider that the Saddlers will naturally demand a fee for their under-contract top scorer.
Who knows, though? Hartlepool probably thought they'd have no chance of signing some lad who banged in 37 goals for a team that had just joined them in the fourth division. Not only did they get Pádraig Amond; they didn't even have to pay a penny for him.
And for those who like to point out that those 37 goals were scored in non-League, I'd argue that the difference in quality between non-League and the fourth division is negligible. Just look at how many teams do well in the fourth division after winning promotion from non-League, and look at how many teams struggle in non-League when they've been relegated to it.
According to Matt Green, Michael Jolley has declared that we're "going for it" this season. If, by "going for it" Jolley means going for 12th place and a few extra points then I can believe it. If he means a shot at promotion then please hold my beer while I repair my sides that have unfortunately just split.
I don't want to be dismissive, unkind or a cynical toss piece, which that last sentence undoubtedly makes me look, but as fans we have seen very little since our return to the Football League that suggests the board is willing to create a budget that will allow a manager to genuinely push for promotion.
It's not so much a rumour because John Fenty stated it in a Q&A session, which coincidentally appeared to trigger the team's dramatic slump in form from February, but there was at least some recognition from the board that our budget for 2018-19 was insufficient to support any realistic attempt at a top seven finish.
As a former trader, Jolley won't be a stranger to taking risks. He's had more than a year to bed in as a Football League manager and has been given the benefit of the doubt on a few occasions when a more prickly and abrasive manager may have been given the boot.
Maybe he feels it's time to be more adventurous, and maybe – just maybe – the board is backing him. But until someone from the local press asks the question, we'll just be dealing in more 'maybe's, and be left to wonder and speculate, and ignite more rumours in the void that exists on this topic.