Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 7 June 2006

7 June 2006

So who are Town going to sign when their new manager gets back off his holiddies? Finger on the pulse as ever, the Mariners' official website has updated its official rumour and official gossip section with the two-day-old story that Doncaster midfielder Ricky Ravenhill could be on his way to Meggies. The story is accompanied by a photograph of Graham Rodgerses, despite making no mention of him anywhere, and thus lends him the creepy omnipotent aura of Chairman Mao, Saddam Hussain and other violent dictators who liked to have their pictures painted all over walls and stuff.

As widely anticipated, Rodgerses's predecessor Mr Russell Slade has now been officially confirmed as the new manager of third division Yeovil and signed a two- or three-year contract (depending where you read it) which presumably sets out considerably more favourable terms than were available to him in Cleethorpes - unless, of course, you subscribe to the outrageous conspiracy theory that he was already talking to the Glovers before he left the Mariners. Some observers will be interested to see how Slade's alleged philosophy that you can't pass your way to promotion in the lower divisions will be received at a club that has already disproved it. Others may be anxious that the former Town boss will 'do a Buckley' and cherry-pick the best of the squad he assembled at Blundell Park, and to address the latter scenario Rodgerses must make his first priority a new five-year contract for Glen Downey.

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." So wrote the great Victorian wit and dramatist Oscar Wilde, and for all we know he might well have been thinking of the profile of Grimsby Town Football Club that would appear on the official website of their fourth division rivals Hartlepool United in the run-up to the 2006-07 season. This is part of a "summer of research" that Pools' OS is apparently conducting on its team's forthcoming opponents - so let's see what they've found out about GTFC. "The Mariners just missed out on promotion to League One, after they were beaten by Cheltenham in the Play-Off Final at Cardiff. Rodgers was thrust into Town's hot-seat following Russell Slade's departure in the aftermatth of The Millennium Stadium defeat having served as Assistant Manager at Blundell Park." And, er, that's it. As an email from Mark Stilton points out, "they also slip in to the 'Rodgers' trap rather too quickly". Funnily enough, I think the same might have been said about Oscar Wilde.