Cod Almighty | Diary

It's past bedtime, get up those dancers

3 November 2022

You can understand and appreciate the romanticism that surrounds knockout
football. David, as we know, can beat Goliath. In theory, an absolute rank outsider,
hemmed in their lowly division by their long-term inability to string enough wins
together against teams of similar ability, can beat better teams from higher
leagues and go all the way to lift the trophy. The path exists. Only other teams can stop them.

And other teams usually do, but it shouldn't stop you dreaming. According to
scientists, 73.8% of sport is dreaming. Annoyingly, we're forced to live in the
remaining harsh lands of 26.2% reality, but it's the sport's job to keep that dream
alive.

A European Super League would kill that dream. To be fair, the Premier League has had a thirty year go at killing the dream also, distributing its obscene wealth in such away that only a handful of mega rich clubs can now lay any sort of claim to the first division trophy. While it was an incredible against-all-odds achievement, Leicester winning the league probably set us back a few years. It gave those in charge of our sport an example they can forever point to and insist that anyone can win it, see? Even the (mega rich) Leicesters of this world.

But while your West Yorkshire Diary is troubled by the continued whispers of a
potential European Super League, it's not the topic I intended to dwell on today. No, today’s topic, given our upcoming FA Cup first round tie against third division
Plymouth Argyle, is that of managers fielding 'strong' teams.

Now, my dad can talk some utter rubbish sometimes but, as a fan in his 70s, he has actively embraced the unwritten rule in society that says he can spout fairly
outlandish things at an ever-increasing volume. As such, I get to hear his thoughts
on football in his ever-increasingly binary world. But on the following point, I agree
with him.

When the media reports that Elite Manager #8 has fielded a 'strong' XI for Mega
Rich FC’s cup game at Bottom Feeders United, what they actually mean is that Elite Manager #8 has made a lot of changes from their last game, which mattered
because money, and is now fielding a much weaker side because it's a match and a competition that holds no relative value to them. But also, that even Elite Team #8's reserve side is so elite that it should still be no match for Bottom Feeder United’s best team.

All the while we're told that Bottom Feeder United can beat anyone on their day, including Elite Team #8's reserve side, and that this is 'the magic of the FA Cup'.
That's the media's dream. They, like the FA, cannot afford nor acknowledge the
reality they've created, which is that even teams like Bottom Feeder United now can't be bothered to name their strongest team since Elite Team #8 aren’t paying them, or the competition, the respect they deserve.

The integrity of our grandest cup competition has been eroding round by round, year by year. No amount of money will make the very richest clubs in this country care about it. Money doesn’t have heart.

The organisation formerly know as the Football League literally pays clubs like ours to care about the pizza trophy, much like a university bails out its failing students' union bar in these days of austerity, and do we care? Not when B-teams erode the integrity.

It appears the word 'strong' has, in football vernacular, become a contranym; a word that's also its own opposite. Take the word 'screen', for example, which means to show (a performance), or to hide (privacy). Strong, the power to move heavy weights, now means 'weaker' in football circles; naming a starting line-up that’s inferior to the previous. From a language point of view, it's fascinating. From a football point of view, it’s revealing.

Of all the things to get het up about, this may not seem like much. But these
everyday phases slipping unchallenged into the way we talk about football is
evidence of an acceptance or, worse, apathy towards a game in which we’re
sleepwalking and no longer dreaming.

Given how the Mariners performed at Barrow and Hartlepool, it's likely that Hurst
would've made changes anyway for Saturday. With John McAtee the heartbeat of
the team, and his continued absence being felt, it could be argued that none of us, including Hurst himself, knows what our strongest XI actually is. And I won’t pretend to know enough about the Pilgrims to claim whether the XI they name for their trip to Cleethorpes is their strongest, or just 'strong'.

What I do know is that Plymouth are phenomenal at home and top the third division after an impressive comeback win against their local rivals Exeter on Monday night. Their away record isn't bad, either.

In terms of news, there ain't a lot floating around today. The £8,000 raised by the sale of Town's replica third kit, designed by two young Town fans Bella and Molly, has made its way to the Shalom Youth Centre on the East Marsh. It will be sed to pay for a new roof at its entrance. It was a simple but effective initiative that brought out the best in the town, and it seems as if it'll be repeated for next season. Well done to all involved.

He may have missed the last couple of games, but Anthony Driscoll-Glennon appears to be attracting interest from Hull, Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday. Perhaps it's no coincidence that we lost at Barrow and Hartlepool without him, but that would do a disservice to Danny Amos, whose contribution to our promotion last season was huge. Hursty knows how to find a quality full back and improve them. We've become a club that keeps the dream alive for players as well as fans, a club heading in the right direction whatever the cup may bring on Saturday.

UTM!