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Get ready for the ‘Hand of Cod’ - Simpson’s Soapbox
York v Fleetwood Town Jamie Vardy By Derick Thomas
SURELY it is only a matter of time before Fleetwood Town clinch the Blue Square Bet Premier title and the Football League is touched by the ‘Hand of Cod’.
Only a bizarre sequence of results and a monumental slip-up can prevent Fleetwood from attaining their goal, thus denying nearest rivals Wrexham the one automatic spot.
And what a ride it has been, considering that the club was competing in the North West Counties League as recently as 2005.
The club has become a major force in non-league football, both on and off the field.
Where once the Highbury ground was unwelcoming and bordering on the dilapidated, it has been transformed and the pristine main grandstand, with its accompanying, up-to-date facilities, would be the envy of a Championship club.
Chairman Andy Pilley has made the funds available to invest in new and better players during their rise up the division, and Micky Mellon has invested the money wisely.
The master-stroke signing was Jamie Vardy. While other clubs dithered, Mellon stole in ahead the rest and secured the goal-grabber, who has had scouts flocking to the club.
Such fruitful utilising of resources has been key in a division where you would be excused for thinking that some clubs would struggle to rub two half-pennies together.
Anyone can spend, but it is how you do it that is key, and there is nothing wrong with raw ambition to do what is best for the town of Fleetwood and the club, as Pilley and Mellon have attempted to do.
Going into tomorrow night’s crucial match with Lincoln City, Fleetwood are realistically one point away from promotion, with Wrexham at the same time having to win all their games to have any chance of overhauling the league leaders.
A win over Lincoln would not only make it certain that League football arrives at Highbury, but it would equal Crawley’s record of the 103 points that club accrued last season when finishing atop the Conference.
History beckons for Fleetwood Town and getting into the League will be one of the momentous events in the history of the proud maritime town and an achievement exactly on a par with Blackpool reaching their own promised land of the Premier League.
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Weather for Fleetwood
Thursday 23 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 7 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 35 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North
