Cod Almighty | Diary

The road to Alfreton Travelodge

13 July 2017

Russell Slade's first spell in charge of GTFC had several distinctive features. There was the fairly direct approach to tactics. There was the staggering average height of his central defenders. And there was the regular appearance of a trialist who had been playing in at least one mid-ranking European league somewhere but seemed more or less African or French in origin, or a bit of both, and whose presence threw down all manner of interesting and rigorous editorial challenges for Town's superb new official website.

Just off the top of my head, your original/regular Diary has particularly fond memories of Ludovic Dje, Jean-Gabin Moubeke and Amadou Konte or Conte – they were never quite sure. Then, of course, there was "Abou Nije" of "Gamibia" – who, we were left to surmise, was probably Abdou Rahman Njie of either Gambia or Namibia. And it still comes as a surprise to be reminded that at no point did Abdou Tangara ever become officially a Grimsby Town player, as I somehow managed to develop more fondness for him during his trial than I can muster for many players who sign permanently and play for a season or two.

All of this is suddenly relevant and resonant again today, as three more names join the ranks of the non-contracted in Town's line-up this afternoon. By the time you read these words, Paul Dixon, Brandon Robinson and Kamal Issah will have pulled on a Mariners shirt for the first time in preparation to face Scunthorpe United in the Lincolnshire Cup.

Dixon is an experienced left-back who has represented both Dundee sides, was a teammate of Nathan Clarke at Huddersfield for a while, and holds three senior caps for Scotland. Town are describing Brandon Robinson as a "frontman", though other online sources have him down as a winger; either way he's 22 and Dutch, with a couple of dozen games for Den Bosch in the Netherlands' second flight last season.

Finally, and with a drum roll please, step forward Kamal Issah Sissoko – or just plain old Kamal Issah, according to the NSNOS. This fine specimen is a 24-year-old Ghanaian (ooh!) who's been turning out most recently for Gençlerbirliği in the Turkish top flight (ooh again!), and plays central midfield (gah). Isn't this exciting, eh? Apart from the central midfield bit, obvs. "I've dreamed of playing in this tournament ever since I was a small boy in Accra, when my community used to crowd around a TV set to watch the Lincolnshire Cup final every year," Kamal might have said, but didn't.

If you're going this afternoon, please do enjoy more of what the Fishy oxymoronically describes as "Lincolnshire Action", and look out for the other trialists, if Slades hasn't made up his minds about them yets. If you're not, or you are but you've got a few minutes to spare first and you want something else to read, try this rather nice interview with the enduringly likeable Jon-Paul Pittman, who's preparing to return to the full-time game alongside Josh Gowling at Torquay. Good luck to them all. Seize ya!