Cod Almighty | Diary

Greater together

6 June 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: Wow. Just wow. The unbelievable fairytale of returning to the football league at the first time of asking, which Town's chairman Jason Stockwood spoke of last Friday in The Guardian, has come to pass. We are only the third team to have managed that feat in the last 25 years. Outstanding!

But I must take issue with the constant references to "bouncing back" as if it was as a result of a kickabout at the local garden fete rather than 47 games – the last three of which lasted over two hours each – of skill, effort and teamwork. Make no mistake, even during the mid-season slump, these players, coaching staff and management have continued to work hard for each other, for their gaffer, for the club and for us fans. As have the owners, the board and the backroom staff to make this a club of which we can all once more be proud.

Having travelled down the A1 in some apocalyptic weather conditions with trepidation as to the outcome of the match, we practically floated home on a cloud of euphoria listening to clips of commentary and interviews and reading congratulatory Tweets from all and sundry. Many were from ex-players such as Podge, Nathan Arnold, Ira Jackson, Matty Pollock and – my favourite – Wayne Burnett. Of course, the best ex-player reaction is the ecstatic "Yessssss!" from Gary Croft on the Humberside commentary. He needs to get that on a promotional video for his estate agency.

Then our thoughts turned to more practical matters, such as when do the fixtures come out – 23 June. Woohoo - less than three weeks away! And when does the next season start – 30 July. Gulp – that's just shy of eight weeks from now and according to the CA contract tracker there are only five senior players still in contract. Not much time for Paul Hurst to assemble a squad for the new challenge, especially when he and everyone else deserve a good long rest to recharge their batteries after the last few weeks. One thing I do feel confident about this time around is that Hurst will be given the full support of the current owners and board to go after the players he thinks will fit in at the club and with the way he wants to play. And we can't ask more than that.

Here at CA Towers we're feeling a bit tired ourselves after the last few months following Town around the country so your regular diarists will be taking some time off over the summer. Watch this space for faces old and new.

I'm going to sign off with a huge congratulations to Kristine Green on the award of the British Empire Medal in the Queen's birthday honours list. Anyone who follows Town to away games will know of the tremendous job she does as SLO, and that's on top of her roles as chair of the Mariners Trust and member of the club board of directors. Thoroughly deserved.

Now I'm off to renew my season ticket. See you next season. UTM!