Cod Almighty | Diary
Where's the warrior without his pride?
17 October 2025
Your A46 Diary has had one of those weeks in which I can ignore football. No significant Town news for days, a defeat to get over and try (and fail) to forget and so a not-quite-satisfying-but-not-exactly-frustrating calm settled over the last six days.
I saw HIM, a film based on the success or otherwise of those sports stars who are destined to be gods. Its focus is American football, and a new quarterback is on the verge of replacing the old, the toxic cultures of overtly masculine arenas and the pressure of being a leader, being the best, being HIM. The young blood is everything a potential star should be and the old is preparing bitterly for the end, leading to some sadistic games of cat and mouse. It's a dog-eat-dog, soul-suck-soul world out there, all the more so in elite sport, and the film, in its own rather bizarre way, captures the fight between the past and the future rather well.
Our past still gets in the way of our future, as old styles and knee jerks, resorting to old resources in times of pressure and panic force their way to the fore. Those long balls hoofed by the Mariners put paid to my devastatingly cutting Cowley curse last week, the brothers were the first and second coming of Jesus Christ Hoof-It-Far. Hoof it far, wide and pointless we did. Green tried to offer some conciliation in his post-match but his admission that the team are "League Two footballers" and what more can we expect of them was frustrating. We expect them be to be gods. We expect them to be HIM.
Tomorrow's opponents will be another physical test. Ainsworth is off for ‘routine’ heart surgery but I'm sure his stand-in will insist on another up-and-at-em display. We don't have the Colchester-Cowley double bogey, however, and the Gills haven't won here in a long time, not since 2001. Good stuff. Let's get back on the right path, the ball on the floor, the players in position and the ball getting touched by brilliant black and whites in the opposition box. That particular stat has grown on me, so much so, that when I'm watching us be blunt, I wish for those early-season touches in the opposition box. The only thing worse than missing penalties? Not getting penalties!
Andy Smith will line up for them. An alumni from the class of 2022 and most of us would've happily seen him back. I hope he gets the applause he deserves at the end of a defeat in which he acquitted himself well. They also have Sam Vokes, the ever-present-but-never-prolific target man who might be exactly the player we don't need to be facing after last week. Or exactly the right one after a week of working on how to play the big man. We will find out tomorrow.
Artell said in his pre-match that the games which are a clash of styles are "the ones we look forward to." I imagine that that's true for him. Putting his own philosophy up against another's is a key part of his mindset: the Artell way is supportive and nurturing but it remains his way or the highway. DA is no less wedded to his style than a name like Ainsworth, no less of a stubborn, obdurate task master, no less of a savant determined to demonstrate the superiority, aesthetically and practically, of his own methods.
Tomorrow's philosophical standoff will be with a squad approaching full fitness. We're still missing Tharme, and Gilsenan isn't ready for first team league action yet, but Rose and Soonsup-Bell both scored for the reserves in the week and Artell is happy with their progress. I haven't heard anything on Lavelle and so I'm thinking no news is good news and he's ready for the bench. Warren looked like he struggled last week and having an option to replace him would be a boost. Of course, simply swapping him and Rogers could solve a few of the problems we saw last week as Warren was turned inside out over and over by their big man, but who am I to question the master of player metamorphoses? Stick to the plan and hope it's our turn for a turnaround and for our players to stand up and be HIM.