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Diary - Monday 30 March 2009

30 March 2009

There were those who queried Mr Re-Newell's reasoning when he loaned Barry Conlon from Bradford a week and a half ago, so let's look at what Conlon has brought to the Mariners so far. There's a 'colourful' reputation. There's a seriously lived-in face. And there's the small matter of two goals in two games. The Diary, for one, felt a surge of confidence when Conlon, rather than Adam Proudlock, stepped up to the spot on Saturday; as much as I like Adam Proudlock, it was reassuring to see a potentially era-defining penalty kick - with a goalkeeper and opposing fans both doing the distracty thing by waving their arms about like King$ton Communication$ FC fans - entrusted not to a substitute who's only been on the pitch five minutes but to a rock-and-roll, devil-may-care, hard bastard with a nerve like a ten-ton truck. So I was much less taken aback than than Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz to see the penalty dinked straight down the middle with enough aplomb to sink a battleship; my only surprise was not to see Conlon roll up a smoke before he took it.

"Police are continuing to investigate," reports the Grimsby Telegraph, after a semi-naked man ran across the Blundell Park pitch during Town's game against Gillingham earlier this month and did more to change the balance of play in the Gills' favour than any of the visitors' midfield. With the Plod having made an arrest after the incident, however, it is unclear to the Diary how much more investigating really needs to be done, and I know newspapers have to use the words 'alleged' or 'allegedly' in connection with any offence before a guilty verdict is delivered by the courts, but with 6,400 witnesses the Grimsby Telegraph's observation that "a man allegedly streaked" is perhaps just a bit over-cautious.

"Yeah, I realised when I sent it I'd made a mistake but it's easy with these huge extended Catholic families, isn't it? Hope all's well and please say hi to your dad for me," writes Rich Mills in an email to Huge Extended Catholic Families Reunited, aka the Diary, addressing his cousin and fellow Diary reader Joe Mooney. "I know, piss off and use email or Facebook - but isn't it good to see that at least two of us in the family not only follow the Town but also read CA. My faith in humanity is partially restored." No, it's absolutely fine, Rich. Really. It seems a very long time since Town cancelled CA's Alan Buckley interview because of the Diary taking the piss out of the club's superb new official website, so it's just reassuring to know that someone's still reading.