Cod Almighty | Diary

Happiness is a full Blundell Park

24 March 2026

We all know the default setting for the average Grimbarian isn’t clicking your heels as you whistle a jaunty tune down Freemo. That’s not to say we can’t be happy, but it takes a bit of effort. And an acceptance that any joy comes with a spectre of impending doom. This manifests at the football for example when the intial relief in winning a throw-in quickly dissipates as you remember we're currently rubbish at them and an opposition counter-attack is imminent.

In the longer term, Daubney Diary finds himself basking in Town’s inexorable march to division three and trying not to consider what the bloody hell we’re going to do when we get there. Be it this season or the next.

Alright, David Artell and his staff have done plenty to suggest that we will padlock ourselves to 17th for a few seasons. Assuming the famously patient Town fans will accept this utterly unacceptable lack of progress, such consolidation will buy the club some time. But the question remains. While not having the answer, Daubney would suggest that Blundell Park will be paradoxically the best and worst football ground in division three, and lies at the heart of the issue.

We don't like Lincoln simply because they are the only club in the league to have blocked CA on Twitter. For this innocuousness. Their remarkable demolition of the division this season will no doubt upset some Town fans as well. Rivals are there to be beaten not to be saluted, but they are an example of what can be achieved within some sort of sustainable framework. External investment has been a factor but from crowds of 2,500 in non-league, they’ve grown their average attendance to around 9,000 in L1. Town simply can’t do this in Blundell Park’s current state.

A quick back of a fag packet calculation based on a 7,000 average Town attendance represents a difference of a million quid a season in ticket sales alone. That's before we get to matchday revenues. Not everyone will spend the reported £6k of last week's magnificent Icelandic visitors in the club shop but they'll probably have a Bovril or two.

Fan forums will tell us that we aren’t selling out the ground but this misses the point. Factors such as away support need considering but an organisation tuned into data will surely accept that to get for example 9,000 average home fans we possibly need 12,000 who are in the habit of going to matches regularly. 10,000 of whom need to get together several times a season to beat Big Club FC. 

1878 haven't failed us yet in their five years of ownership. They've spent money on Blundell Park patching up the stands and the pitch. It's both unfair and ungrateful to regard this as kicking the can down the road on both, but that's where we are. More money is the unfortunate and ultimate answer.

The owners have shown loyalty and commitment to the club and the town, backing it up with cash. Individually, the fans can't match the latter, but collectively is there a long term solution with elements such as the debentures used by Wimbledon we could consider? Daubney doesn't have the answer but one of you might. Just use an image of those corners filled in as your fuel. UTM.