Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 27 January 2009

27 January 2009

Forty-four years ago today in Liverpool our glorious leader was born, but it is Mr Re-Newell who is dishing out the presents today with the news that discussions have already begun to retain the services of two of the club's three short-term loan players. Dean Sinclair, Joe Widdowson and Stuart Elliott have made an immediate and substantial impact on the Mariners' fortunes with back-to-back wins since their arrival, and the manager is quoted in today's Grimsby Telegraph to the effect that he wants them around for a while if at all possible. "I've spoken to a couple of the lads already about staying for longer," he says. "The last thing you want is to get a few results strung together and then have to replace a third of the side. I think they are keen and it's something we'll be looking at before next Monday, for certain. We'll be looking to extend their loans at least and maybe even make their stays longer than that." Now you're just spoiling us, Mike.

I hope all Diary readers take some time to look around the rest of CA and you don't just drop by here once a day and ignore the rest of the site. Why? Apart from all the great feature writing and humour, match reports and irregularly updated investigation stuff, what has Cod Almighty ever done for us? Well, it's a good thing to see that the regular pre-match factfile is back on the site. Along with a whole bunch of other fascinating stuff, the full team news for tonight's visit of Dagenham & Redbridge can be found in the latest of these. The salient point is perhaps that Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro is being widely reported by the BBC, Sporting Life and other sources as definitely out of the match, whereas Mr Re-Newell has been on the internet to say that Akpa Akpro and Jean-Paul Kalala are merely doubtful rather than certainly sidelined. If J-Laa doesn't make it then the smart money is on notorious heterosexual Peter Bore to return to the forward line, in what could only be described as a straight swap.

The Telewag's series on great former Town players has thrown up some good reading over the last few weeks, and its form continues with today's piece about Jackie Bestall. The Diary knew he was our club's first England international but I didn't realise he was only five foot two. Does that explain why the street that's named after him is also really short?

Nutty, from Town's fan team Internet Mariners FC, has emailed the Diary to put a little dampener on our excitement with some bad news for his side. "Stiffs win. First team win. Fans' team lose. We still haven't managed the treble yet this season. We lost 6-4 at home to Preston." Still, four goals, eh? Readers wishing to follow the exploits of IMFC are guided to the club's online internet website site. Better luck next time to Nutty and the lads, and keep us posted.

"At last I've seen Mariners win!!!!!" wrote an excited Jan Przeniczny in an email to the Diary yesterday. "Yes I KNOW they have won twice before (at home) but Tuesdays don't count (I work) and that other Saturday v Shrews I decided that £18 (Upper gassy lager) was a bit much for headaches, stomach upset and general feeling malaise and depression. So I decided to do something constructive and tile. But this weekend, hey, I haven't fallen out with my wife, kicked the cat, and I smiled all weekend, so I am told. Compared to some of you lot, I'm a Mariners virgin. I haven't found the trick (or is it a skill?) to build a reservoir of happiness so that it tides me over until the next win. But two wins ON THE TROT, eh, might even contemplate an away trip. See if I can cope with 200 miles travelling in hope, and 200 miles back in depression, hmmmmmm. But wait a mo, this Tuesday, that's TOMORROW!!! Sorry, must go, must find my therapy book, you know the one, The Idiot's Guide on being a Footy Fan, and How to Cope!! Bye." Thanks, Jan! It's nice to hear from you, and we hope you continue to cope. We always thought the trick was to build not a reservoir of happiness but a Zen-like oasis of detachment, so that whether the Mariners win or lose ceases to matter in the infinity of the cosmos, but failing that a few pints of Old Mill Bitter tend to do the trick quite nicely.