Cod Almighty | Diary

All the news that's fit to print

7 July 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: After a few weeks of nothing to report, last week was positively brimming with events. So much so that, giddy with shirt launches, sponsorship deals and new player signings, your CA diarists have been neglecting some of the other news coming out of the club. I'm here today to set that right. It's not headline-grabbing news but that means I'm just the right person to deliver it. If I left it to my recent fill-in, Mr Deviant, you'd be too busy unravelling the coded references and trying to spot the 70s prog-rock lyrics to know what was actually being announced.

Firstly, the club have launched a new 1878 Club membership scheme at a cost of £15 for adults. The scheme offers a free eighth ticket after purchasing the first seven, which seems like a good deal for those who cannot attend enough games to warrant buying a season ticket. The scheme also offers priority access to away tickets, the opportunity to buy a match ticket in the Osmond Stand for £20 and various discounts. There is now also an under-18 membership for £5 which also includes a prize draw to be a special guest at a training session. In addition, the club have launched a scheme for current and ex-forces personnel and emergency services workers to buy a ticket in the Osmond for £18. You can read the full details here. 

I saw on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that Nick Hegarty had left his job as Lead Youth Development Phase Coach in Town's academy and returned to Australia to spread some 'Hegartivity' as Head Coach of Melbourne semi-pro team Hume City. The club have now announced that Ben Davies will step into Nick's role.

It has been officially confirmed, but comes as no surprise, that the league cup game against Shrewsbury will be played at Blundell Park at 7.45 on Tuesday 12 August. Also confirmed is Town's first fixture disruption to be caused by Sky Sports – fortunately it's only a 15 minute delay to the kick-off time of the game at Walsall on Tuesday 19 August. Apparently, before the season starts on 2 August all the other matches to be disrupted to suit Sky TV up to the first week in January will be announced. So put all your travel plans on hold till then.

Now to talk about some actual football. As I never go to the pre-season game at Cleethorpes Town I'm having to rely on the Artell interview and the six minutes of highlights on YouTube for information here. According to the manager the game (and any pre-season game) is not about the result but about building relationships and assessing what needs working on within the team. He seemed quite upbeat, saying that Town are in "much better shape" than last year with no injuries and no need for triallists. He gave a bit of a run down of the new players, describing Jamie Walker (sponsored by Cod Almighty!) as on a different level.

Watching the six minutes of highlights provided by Owls TV all I can say for sure is that Evan Khouri was wearing the no 8 shirt (the new Craig Disley?), Zak Gilsenan likes to put himself about, and Town should never, ever play it out from the back with Seb Auton in goal.

Tomorrow sees the next pre-season game at Grimsby Borough. Read this if you want to know why they are called the Wilderness Boys.

UTM