Pat Bell
patjbp.bsky.social
Pat Bell
@patjbp.bsky.social
Welsh-ish whisky socialist, neo-librarian and would-be historian of Grimsby Town when we were good
The shame of a long-time Labour supporter, a life lesson from a former footballer and the agonising defeat of #gtfc youth team. All in today's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary
November 18, 2025 at 11:27 AM
On Tuesday 14 Feb 1939 Grimsby schools took a half day holiday so pupils could attend #gtfc's Fa Cup replay with Sheffield United. That day Germany launched the battleship Bismark. May have been in the backs of people's minds there mightn't be another cup tie at Blundell Park for a few years after
November 16, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Child in Cleethorpes points across the Humber to ask "Dad, what is that country over there?" No one from Yorkshire in hearing or their ego would have floated them to Spurn Point
October 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Imagining Jack Bestall and Alan Buckley sitting together watching Dave Artell's #gtfc. Today's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary

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September 23, 2025 at 10:44 AM
"He was all football and expected everyone else to be the same." Ted Buck on Jack Bestall but it might be John Cockerill on Alan Buckley or anyone on anyone who is excellent in their field. Some praise is timeless
September 21, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Is the definition of a serious musician someone who hears the word magnificat and doesn't think it sounds like a cartoon superhero?
September 17, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Sometimes the most awful events bring the best out of people. It is hard to imagine Sheffield Wednesday, under their current ownership, supporting an event like this. Today's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary
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September 16, 2025 at 11:03 AM
It very occasionally amuses me, if no one else, to write the @codalmighty.bsky.social diary in the style of a Sherlock Holmes story. Here goes.

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September 3, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Some readers thought last week's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary, about 1932, was less than topical. This is an improvement. It's about 1938 codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?...
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August 26, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Today's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary is probably deep in the domain of more fun to write than to read. A profoundly topical attempt to make tonight's game a grudge match. #gtfc

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August 19, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Apparently the novelist Anthony Trollope wrote 1,000 words an hour, even when riding in the back of a stage coach for his day job with the post office. But he wasn't writing about #gtfc between the wars. I've written 3,000 words in three months
August 10, 2025 at 6:06 AM
One of those @codalmighty.bsky.social diary's that was probably a lot more enjoyable to write than to read. But it is quite short.

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July 22, 2025 at 10:35 AM
I've been having a difficult time with the latest chapter of Cinderellas of the Football League. Had Co-Pilot redraft a paragraph. It was banal, Americanised rot. Humans can sleep easy
July 20, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Unnamed Labour MP quoted in today's papers: "we fought Corbyn for five years". Perhaps if they had fought the Tories instead of their own party leader we'd have been spared Johnson and Truss
July 2, 2025 at 7:18 AM
In the horror of a civilisations life chances being dictated by angry old men, I at least had fun imagining a government run by #gtfc in today's diary codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?...
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June 24, 2025 at 11:03 AM
I sometimes fear 50% of my writing is an attempt to justify the emotional energy I devote to #gtfc. Here we go again codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?...
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June 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Today's @codalmighty.bsky.social diary: the surprising truth behind the old saw that its not the winning or losing that counts

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May 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
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If you have a minority interest, like supporting a lower league football club, you need your local library
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May 20, 2025 at 10:32 AM
The Cod Almighty diary is a topical article about football. Usually I forget the topical. Today I forgot the football

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May 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
"21st century Labour Party officials, with their training coming from student rather than trade union politics, are more comfortable defining themselves against greens and the left rather than Tories and Reform." Discuss
May 6, 2025 at 8:46 PM
When did it become apparently acceptable for politicians and officials to dismiss perfectly reasonable enquiries with "we won't be providing a running commentary"?
April 7, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I'm a bit stuck in my writing, so recall the advice of Ray Chandler: if in doubt, have someone appear with a gun in their hand. Doesn't work for Grimsby in the 1930s though. For me it's refer to the state of the fishing industry instead
April 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
The Guardian has a piece on boomerasking today which reminds me of the old opening "you look as bad as I feel". Apparently sympathetic, but actually impossible not to make it a conversation about them
March 27, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Hi @emmamarshallxx.bsky.social , without wanting to sound creepy, would you mind following me so I can DM you? I can't help thinking you may be related to one of Town's great players of the past
March 26, 2025 at 11:08 AM
You don't have to read far between the lines to guess the benefits Green paper was close to my mind when I wrote about #gtfc today
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March 18, 2025 at 11:55 AM