Cod Almighty | Diary

In the Grimsby Town house there are many rooms

7 September 2022

One of the abiding memories of the 1997-98 season was the point in the second half of most matches when Kingsley Black replaced Tony Gallimore and Dave Smith switched to left back. Instead of "switched", Middle-Aged Diary almost wrote "retreated", but it was anything but a retreat: it was the sign that Town were going for it, when they started to turn their superiority into all-out attack, an exciting moment in an exciting season.

Dave was not one of the stand-out stars of the double-Wembley season, but he was far more than good enough. In the decades since we've longed for players as able as he was. Meanwhile, as commercial manager, he was one of the good guys. Those members of the Cod Almighty team with a taste for old kits speak fondly of the time he'd devote to showing them Town's collection. And last November, with the same incisiveness as a one-two with Kingsley Black, he swept up a carload of us from outside the Findus as we'd been dithering about how we'd get to the seafront in time for a restaurant booking.

Dave is leaving Blundell Park with everyone's best wishes.

York City, under the captaincy of Lenell John-Lewis, have made a good start on their return to the Conference. On Saturday they won 1-0 at Yeovil and John-Lewis confounded Town fans' expectations by first having a penalty saved but then scoring in open play. When he was preparing to take the penalty, some Yeovil fans chanted racial abuse, an incident which is now being investigated by the FA and the police. In forthright comments quoted here, John-Lewis asks and answers the question "Will Kick It Out ever happen? While racism is still in society, it will not." As Trentside Diary wrote yesterday, there is a lot wrong in Britain at the moment and much as we'd like football to be relief from it, it can also be a magnet for its ills.

Let's finish with two tales of five.

First of all congratulations to Grimsby Town Women who at the weekend got their season under way with a 5-0 win at Lincoln United. We'd really like to cover the women's team more fully, so if you are going to their games, perhaps you might like to write for us about them. Get in touch.

Only one player, so far, has scored five goals for Town in the top flight. That was Pat Glover, and he did it against the League champions as well, in 1937. A chance sentence or two in an old newspaper sent Rob McIlveen on an epic quest to track down the match ball from that game. Read all about it here.

See you.