Cod Almighty | Diary
He's gone too far there
9 March 2022
Town remain in the hunt for a top seven placing despite last night's 1-0 defeat at Southend. That's no bad thing with the final stretch on the horizon; the play-offs were the realistic goal for many, Daubney Diary included, in August.
With several big spenders in the division, chasing top spot was always going to be an ask. If the answer is paying £300k for Ollie Palmer and the division three wages that go with it, the next ask should be "are you mad?" Hold that thought. We're not here for a Wrexham or Ollie bash and to do so would taste of sour grapes with him scoring again last night. They'll do their thing and good luck to them. Crafting our path should be the only focus.
Our results this season suggest a team that has the right spirit, if not all the skills to challenge at the very top. Last night was our eleventh league defeat and our ninth by a single goal. Only Bromley (when we were down to ten men) and Solihull have managed to get us by a two-goal margin. Such admirable doggedness is a typical strength of a Paul Hurst team. However, the manner of these narrow defeats also suggests some areas in that team aren't quite good enough.
With no magic wand or blank cheque book in a season before Financial Fair Play rules come into force, getting players to improve those areas takes patience. That magic P word. Not one of Davec's five 'P's and a 'U' but in most cases it goes with it. Patient mindsets are the challenge for a recovering fanbase conditioned by many years of spinning the wheel and waiting for football fortune.
Like GTFC itself, that mindset might take time to change. During the journey, a defeat should feel like watching a healthy stock market losing a few pence in value; mildly irritating but not cause to cash in your pension and put it all on the 2.30 at Kempton Park. Before you know it, your floodlights are getting kneecapped because you're up to your oxsters in debt with the local loan shark.
There's added merit in the softly, softly, catchee Lincoln approach. We're fresh from a taste of the League last time as the poor relations, when we'd scrabble about dodging relegation and bringing out DVDs to toast 17th position. The spell before that wasn't much better, with the owner chaired off the pitch in jubilation after the club's worst season in history.
When we return we need to have made progress off the pitch. If that's this season, we may not have everything we need in place, but it will certainly be a nice problem to have. Regardless, with FFP next season, basketcases and overspenders will soon be weeded out. Success will be inevitable for a well run club backed by a proud support. If you want it sooner, rev up the DeLorean to Bournemouth in 2009 and use a boot instead of a chair.