Cod Almighty | Diary

Don't think, just do

17 November 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: Previously, I have always felt fortunate to be the regular Monday diarist, especially during the season, because there's always something to write about arising from the game on Saturday. I'm not enjoying it so much these days.

The older I get the more I have found that the way I cope best with upsetting things is to avoid thinking about them. Hence, I haven't watched a news bulletin since the US Presidential election a year ago and barely glance at the first half dozen pages in the newspaper, preferring to skip to the more light-hearted stuff about cheating pub quiz teams and rock climbing at the local shopping centre. I like old books, old films and TV shows where the main cast are still alive at the end of each episode.

So writing about the game is fine when Town win or draw, even if the performance itself is not all it might have been. I'll happily watch the highlights, listen to the post-match interviews, trawl social media for reaction, but diarying on a Monday is starting to feel like a curse when Town lose. It's bad enough being the editor for the match reports, having to read about the latest debacle while correcting punctuation and decoding Mr Butcher's obscure references so that readers have at least some chance of following the narrative. But having to write about the loss myself for the diary is really getting me down.

Town aren't helping the situation by finding new ways to, effectively, shoot themselves in the foot – an idiom coined in relation to the practice of soldiers giving themselves a non-fatal wound during the First World War to get out of combat. Now I'm not for a minute suggesting that the events on Saturday were deliberate on the part of Town players, but Pym's sending off and the subsequent own goal both arose from uncharacteristic, some might say sloppy, errors by normally highly dependable players. Then there's the previous week's draw at Barrow – a storming start to take a two-nil lead only for the usually very reliable Pym to concede from two bloopers. 

It almost feels like there is no jeopardy for the players in making a mistake. As he has made clear, in Artell's new regime it's as much about the performance as the result. When you're sat in the Pontoon witnessing 1,100 opposition fans in the Osmond having a party at your expense, it feels very different. Sort it Artells.

There is one Town team about which the news is all good. Unbeaten this season, the Youth Team sit at the top of the table in the Youth Alliance, and tonight take on Doncaster Rovers at Blundell Park in the second round of the FA Youth Cup. A win for the lads would see them face Aston Villa – the current holders of the cup – at home next month. So let's get down to the Park and cheer them on.

Another blessing to count before I go. You should all be aware of the club's narrow escape from the clutches of a fraudster before we landed in the safe hands of Stockitt and Petwood; not every club is so fortunate. If you can, have a watch of a new documentary – King of Lies: Football's Greatest Con – which tells the story of Notts County's almost disastrous dealings with a fraudster back in 2009. Change the names and reduce the scale and you have Town this time five years ago - it's a portrait of every con, how small-time, small-town men get seduced by their own ambitions.

There you are, I'm feeling better already.

UTM