Cod Almighty | Diary

The Shop

16 March 2022

"You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore". None but the privileged can quite manage such grandiose levels of self-pity so we can be sure that Richard Nixon's remarks, after failing to be elected Governor of California in 1962, find no echo today in the thoughts of Lenell John-Lewis. Yesterday, the 32-year-old forward's loan to York City was extended until the end of the season, when his contract with Town also comes to an end. There is a recall clause, but the chances are we won't be seeing him again at Blundell Park.

For 16 years John-Lewis has been plying his trade somewhere between the third and the sixth flights: 481 appearances, 79 goals. It is the record of a man who knows his own game. Not a fans' favourite but a players' player, the first name on the manager's teamsheet. 481 matches of putting himself in the right places and making things happen for his team, often enough to be well worth his place.

The gits who aim for a cheap laugh (Cod Almighty laughs, being few and far between, are highly expensive) will say that his most memorable performance was in the John Lewis advert skit, and it was truer than they think. He did what was needed to allow Lloyd Griffith to shine.

Middle-Aged Diary will miss feeling profoundly reassured by the sight of him at the start of the run-up to a critical penalty. If he'd been a better finisher from open play he'd never have been with us in the first place, and the fans lumping on him when this season his knock-downs went astray were knocking at an open door: the "Shop" knew better than they did that this was not how it was meant to be.

It reads as though he has settled well at York. He deserves another flourish. As for "final flourish", Nixon went on to be President of the United States. Perhaps in other roles Lenell John-Lewis still has something to offer the game, and I don't mean a talent for bugging opposition dressing rooms.