The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 20 April 2010

20 April 2010

Mardy Diary writes: Vote for Sweeney? VOTE FOR SWEENEY? I tell you what, relegated club of mine, why don't you just come round to my house and spit in my face while stapling my season ticket to my balls? No, it's not enough that I have to watch my club drop out of the bloody Football League with barely a whimper after ten years of mismanagement. It's not enough that I pay a premium for this over the unwashed, ridiculously-coiffured chavs who turn up for the cheap seats before running on the pitch and fighting around little children. No, that's not enough. On top of all this you want me to vote for the pretty-vacant midfielder who is one of a number of under-achieving, over-earning players who've got the club in to this bloody mess in the first place. And further more, you want me to do it for some insignificant non-event of a trophy, and that the only benefit to me voting is that I may win some computer game or other and that one of our players may get some fame and recognition that he doesn't really deserve. I don't really want to single Sweeney out here - it's not all his fault - but you've left me no choice, because YOU'VE singled him out. And not only that, but with some awful, self-congratulatory, cheesy copy taken straight from whichever paint company it is that are the current sponsor of the damn thing. Thousands have voted, have they? Well you can stick my vote up your arse.

Still, at least we're spared the Tell The Telegraph We've Not Been The Best Lately But We'll Get Better Now, Honest stories today - it's perhaps a bit late for those now. However, in their place we have the Isn't It Really Sad That Once Successful Grimsby Are Getting Relegated Out Of The Football League stories that have been missing for a few weeks. This time it's the turn of lower-league, midfield stalwart and ex-Town youther Chris Hargreaves who, incidentally, is also selling a book. Or writing a book. Or is going to write a book. Or something to do with a book anyway. To his credit, his comments do seem quite insightful, if not fairly obvious to most Grimsby fans. "When a team goes down they are usually in a mess off the field as well as on it," says Chris, adding that last season "should have been a big wake-up call to the club about getting its backside in gear and making sure it would never, ever be in a similar position again. Unfortunately that didn't happen." There's nothing more to add that that, really.

Fenty himself is blaming our impending demise on, er, not winning and being shit - from what I can make out. For those of you who really can't summon the energy or willpower to subscribe or even look at Mariners Player, we've done the dirty work for you. Here is the CA executive summary of what we think Fenty is saying. Bear in mind that the whole interview is quite vague in places, and I'm a long way from being over the disappointment of the weekend. The key points seem to be:

  • We will have money to assemble a competitive squad in the Conference. Although did anyone have any doubts about this? If we didn't have the money to compete with Barrow, I'd be a bit concerned.
  • There'll be loads of league rejects available when all of those badly run clubs go under and all their players are released. Perhaps we could tempt Mike Edwards back, then?
  • We'll probably stop playing in the reserve league because we have to provide a doctor for the match and we can't afford to do that, apparently. I'm not sure if that means we have to provide a doctor for away matches too, or what. Anyway, doctors are expensive so we'll be ditching the reserves (if we stay up or go down) and arranging matches on an ad-hoc basis. I think some teams like Forest already do this.
  • The youth team will remain but will be reviewed. Uh-oh.
  • The board Will talk to Woods at the end of the season about what he's learned and and what he knows about the lower leagues and then decide on what they then need to do to go forward. I'm not sure what this speaking to Woods about what he knows actually means. Are they suggesting that they'll talk to Woods in order to support him going forward, or that if they don't like what he says they'll get rid of him and change manager again? Note to Neil Woods: if asked tell Fenty that you know loads about non-league.

    In another oddly-timed article in the GET, John Deehan says there's more to come from the strikers. I presume not much more though, given that there are only three games left. I can't fathom the purpose of this piece - it would have been more interesting to hear about what scouting Deehan is involved with, what plans he is making for us should we stay up or go down. Has he put together a possible list of targets for Woods already? Is he coaching or scouting? Will he be around to help in the signing of these players before his contract expires in the summer? Does he expect to be at the club next season? Does he expect these strikers to be at the club next season? Ah well, at least we already know that the Telegraph will be providing non-league reporting next season, regardless of whether Town stay up or not.

    Oh, Sinclair is buggered. Great. VOTE FOR SWEENEY then.