Cod Almighty | Diary

If you like

8 December 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: I think we all have words and phrases we overuse unconsciously when we are excited or upset, or when we're under pressure. We've all heard nervous interviewees who tack "you know" onto the end of every sentence, or the modern trend for starting the answer to every question with "yes/no".

Mr B is very good at spotting verbal idiosyncrasies – I'm sure he was the first to highlight Paul Hurst's fondness for talking about "keeping us shape". Many years ago when we were working in the same open plan office he pointed out that one of our colleagues had a peculiar way of pronouncing the word 'report'. This was a very frequently-used word in our line of work and I had to make sure I never caught Mr B's eye when she was speaking or I'd dissolve into very unkind laughter. A few years later when I was working in a completely different part of the organization this woman became my boss – a bit of Karma going on there, I think.

Anyway, back to now. I am sure we aren't the only ones who have noticed that David Artell has seemed defensive during recent interviews, giving some fairly random and off-the-wall answers to Matt Dean's questions about performances and player injuries. At the same time we have spotted an increasing use of the phrase "if you like" at the end of sentences – I counted eight in last week's pre-match interview. I congratulate Matt on resisting the urge (which he surely must have had) to point this out. Artell has been assuming the air of someone who is happy with how everything is going – talking of improved performances even when Town hadn't won in the previous four games – but was he really that sanguine? I think his sub-conscious has been letting us know that even he doesn't believe everything in the garden is a rosy as he would like it to be. And in the interview after Saturday's 4-0 victory over Wealdstone? Not one appearance of that dreaded phrase: I rest my case.

The game itself was a very relaxing affair all round. Any pre-match fears that last year's failure might be repeated were eased in the first couple of minutes, when Town almost scored, then completely disappeared when Kabia did score in the seventh minute. I get very annoyed when teams 'turn us round' and we have to shoot towards the Pontoon in the first half, but on Saturday it was a bonus as we got to see three of the four goals up close. We didn't know whether to laugh or cheer at Green's goal. My only quibble would be that, having scored three in 20-odd minutes, Town might have gone on to at least double that score. But I rationalised that with the thought that the players were saving their energy and avoiding injuries ahead of their trip to Shrewsbury tomorrow.

Shrewsbury: who were outplayed by their Conference opponents Sutton United and needed to go to extra time to beat them; who with all the stoppage time and extra time in the match played over two and a quarter hours on Saturday; who Town have already beaten this season. I was almost tempted to change my plans and go to the game, but then I remembered my only visit to New Meadow back in 2007 and sanity prevailed.

With any luck someone is, if you like, insane enough to swing over to Shropshire and write us a report. We'd like that, with three points on top please.