Really good CA article, worth a read..
May you live in interesting times whilst sounding like a blessing, is, if my last- minute internet research is to be believed, a Chinese curse. Is it because we paid Zhang Enhua £10k a week of imaginary ITV Digital money that we Mariners live in these interesting times? John Fenty would say yes but nobody should be listening to him any more. Tomorrow is the latest instalment in the 'Biggest Game in Our History' series. For 130 years we had big games. They were usually a nice sort of big, though, the culmination of a great league or cup campaign. You know the kind of thing, the 1936 and 1939 cup semi-finals, the 1980 and 1991 promotion clinchers and the 1998 Wembleys.
Over the past ten years the 'Biggest Game' billing has taken on a different sense. Big games are no longer the difference between promotion and playing Man City and Sheffield Wednesday or being stuck with Fulham and Preston. Existence of the club in its current form seems to be on the line. The eager anticipation of a Telegraph Laughing Mariner rosette has been replaced by the sickening dread of a Youngs' clapper.
We won our big game in 2016 but lost in 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2010. We also lost in 2009 but someone else lost their big game too. Tomorrow's game is so big that the tone deaf official Twitter account twittered four times yesterday plugging what they are calling the 'biggest game in our recent history'. Plug off you twits. The fans are well aware of the game and what it means. We've been here the whole horrific season and many more before that. We're still here even after we have had a dolt for a manager serving up dreadful football, selling our best players and frittering our money away on agent fees. The club have repeated all the old and obvious mistakes and without a hint of apology or modesty they are rolling this out as a 'must see, be there or be blue square' attraction. What an absolute shower.
The support of the past few weeks has been superb. We're doing our bit. What have we got in return? Nowt, on or off the pitch. On the latter, the club's view of its supporters are like its stadium plans, stuck in the last century. The statement on the Port vale crowd trouble uses 'alcohol-fuelled scenes' to introduce all sorts of unnecessary measures that are unrelated to the actual events on the day.
This is in no way suggesting that what happened could be mentioned in the same breath as the Hillsborough disaster. It is obviously trivial in comparison. However, the attitude from those in authority echoes on. The club chose to divert blame from their own failings (in this case an incorrect or ignored risk assessment), opened a gate when they shouldn't have and then blamed boozed up fans for the outcome. Sound familiar? As an aside how can the Mariners Trust fairly and neutrally represent the fans' voice in incidents like this? As the Port Vale debacle unfolded, trust board member Terry Rudrum watched from the police control box alongside the stadium manager. That seems like a serious conflict of interest to me.
The football. The Big Game. By alarming coincidence, we greet Lesterfield tomorrow for the 42nd game of the season, just as we did in 2010. Jack stuck a dagger through our hearts that evening aided by the ghosts past and future of Gritton, Niven and Boshell. Our starting eleven back then doesn't look so bad any more, does it?
For added alarm, we've got a Premier League ref tomorrow. Ignore the official site (obviously); he has reffed a few times in divisons two and three this season but if Jack has taught his boys the art of falling over in the box, we could be in trouble tomorrow.
Chesterfield are rubbish, right? Otherwise they wouldn't be alongside us. Mmmm. If they'd been a soggy digestive against Notts County the other week, I'd be smoking cigars paid for by the cash-out on my Town relegation bet. They didn't though. They were good value for the win and were strong even when County pulled one back. You fear we'd have capsized in similar choppy water. However, you've read to the end and you will be rewarded with some positivity.
Michael Jolley has managed to wake players out of the Slade stupor. I met the Cod Almighty match reporter at half time at Wycombe. He was positively bouncing as he lauded the organisation and committment that Jolley's team had shown. Bouncing I tell you. I'd stopped him on his way to the bathrooms but still, he is not easily impressed. The result was ultimately disappointing. The spirit on the pitch and in the away stand was anything but. The fans backed the team and the players gave their all. We will win with the same attitude tomorrow.
We have hope and we have faith. Poojah isn't ranting on the Fishy this time round, he's written an uplifting poem. Mark James has written, not typed but actually put pen to paper. Well done that man. The spirit is everywhere. Last week I took my eldest for a kickabout on Cleethorpes beach in his Town shirt. It was a beautiful spring morning, not sun lotion weather by any means but one that had you shedding a jacket to enjoy the surprising warmth. Adding to the warmth were the regular 'Up the Mariners' from walkers on the beach and above on the prom. The greeting is timeless, oblivious to the division or position we find ourselves in.
I've needed a bit of convincing from myself and others but it won't be the end of the world if we lose tomorrow. From destruction comes creation. Remember, without Lyons we would never have had Buckley. As good or bad as the next few weeks might be, there's only one certainty. GTFC is our team and is forever, no matter what division or league we are in. Up the Mariners
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