Cod Almighty | Diary

Now the fun is over

20 March 2025

Good morning! And welcome to your super-early Guest Diary written in the half-light as a new springland fens day beckons. Life is busy, there are peas to sow and the second earlies are chitted and ready. I hope that our Town boys are feeling brighter after a few days off - we still have big chances to get this season back on track.

Since I last wrote the owners have been explaining the realities of how expensive it is to run a modern professional football club. To summarise: it is like trying to squeeze ten pounds of shit into a five pound bag. Old grounds are ageing and expensive; new grounds are unreachably pricey. A decent pitch costs a king's ransom. The clubs IDP relies almost entirely on the charity of a few rich fans. Breakeven is as big a pipedream as net-zero. But old Charlie stole the handle and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down. Cue Andrew's one-legged flute solo.

Playing softly, as I write this, is The Colour of Spring. Happiness is easy. For us, happiness will be a win on Saturday - something that IS attainable, something to believe in. Life is what you make it. Can the home crowd rally and will the lads over the line? Hope springs eternal, we just need to generate energy, belief – the joy will follow. The grass may not yet be growing after all these cold nights, the breeze may be chilly off the Humber but things are stirring and growing – spring may be a couple of weeks late but let's hope that it starts this weekend.

I read a headline that said Palace are planning to start a programme to actively support young players released by the club. Which was such a weird coincidence because I had just stumbled across this. I will be honest here, my main memory of young Blankley, like many others of the Town Yoof over the years, is centred around his name – I love the ever-changing parent naming fashions. Jaxon shot up in popularity in the late nineties. To digress, for just a second, I spotted a Carragher somewhere earlier this week – that is tantamount to child abuse surely? But you have to feel for young players cast adrift after getting so close to a pro contract. For every Dan Burn there are five thousand kids devastated when they don't make it. A league-funded clearing house to avoid them having to beg clubs to get in touch and to help them keep playing, even if only semi-pro, would be a very practical step. Stacking trolleys all week maybe, but the magic of football on a Saturday is at least something to look forward to. See yer.