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Diary - Thursday 14 May 2009

14 May 2009

Andy Taylor has been told he can leave Grimsby Town Football Club. The 20-year-old Grimsby-born striker is a product of the club's youth system and has been on professional terms for two or three years but, despite a few games, a handful of goals, and some flashes of promise here and there, has not established himself in the first team set-up and may depart this summer, with a year still to run on his contract. It seems a shame in many ways, as Taylor has a good turn of pace and, when he gets through on goal, seems a decent finisher too - but perhaps lacks the physique necessary to reach goalscoring positions often enough in the fourth division. Oddly enough, he'd probably have fared much better in one of Buckley's teams of yore, two steps higher up the league. Taylor has worked hard and seems to have been a good pro, but was cruelly thwarted by something he couldn't do much about - in contrast, some might say, to certain of his peers. So good luck, Andy. Danny North's sighs of relief, meanwhile, are reported to have been audible from Scandinavia.

Nathan Cook is a 17-year-old central midfielder with Scarborough Town FC and Scarborough Academy. He is the son of former Scarborough FC, Darlington, Blackpool and Hartlepool defender Mitch Cook. His favourite player is Paul Scholes. His favourite drink is cola and his favourite food is Indian. He has a friend called Poppy who posts scandalous things about him on his Bebo page. And after a couple of trial-type appearances for the Myspace Mariners recently he will be joining up with Town again for pre-season training at the end of June. "He has come on leaps and bounds this season at both the Academy and Town. This will now be a great chance for him," is the enthusiastic quote in the Scarborough Evening News from the aforementioned dad Mitch, who has coached his lad at the two Scarborough clubs. So good luck, Nathan. If anyone's looking for an amusing finale to this paragraph you're going to be sorely disappointed, because there isn't one.

Mike Newell, meanwhile, has backed up John Fenty on the issue of Ryan Bennett's immediate future. Fenty, you will doubtless recall, was forced to speak up yesterday after Peterborough's director of football Barry Fry went gobbing off to the media about his knock-back over Bennett, and the Town manager has reiterated the chairman's 'he ain't going nowhere' theme, adding a few delightful Newellian flourishes. "We won't stand in his way when the time is right but that time isn't now," is the top and bottom of it. Our Mike overcomes his well-known love of agents, furthermore, to make a point about the random bloodsuckers purporting to represent Bennett to Posh. "He wont be swayed by the people who are trying to influence him at the moment. Some of them wouldn't know one end of the pitch from the other and are only interested in one thing," growls Newell, presumably not referring to nookie.

Lastly today - and lastly from your regular Diary this week before a guest diarist hopefully appears here tomorrow - there's terrible news for Lincoln City, and we're not just talking Dany N'Guessan turning down a new contract so he can sign for Leicester instead. Still smarting after their promotion challenge started to crash and burn just as Tom Newey arrived on loan, Rochdale have included the former Town left-back among ten players who won't be given new contracts at Spotland - leaving the way clear for Newey to join up with his friends at Lincoln. Shame. N'Guessan would have been just the man to add a touch of class to the Imps' gritty 2009-10 relegation battle.