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Diary - Tuesday 7 August 2012

7 August 2012

It's often said that you can gauge the worth, or worthlessness, of politicians' utterances by looking at whether anyone would ever bother making the opposite case. So the Rt Hon Jeremy Trust-Fund, MP for Mid-Landrovershire, will say something like: "This government believes that British people who work hard should be rewarded for their efforts." And in response you can say something like: "But everyone believes that British people who work hard should be rewarded for their efforts. Mr Trust-Fund's decision to specify nationality may suggest a populist xenophobic subtext. Or he may be implying that billionaire bankers are perfectly justified in dodging all their tax. But at face value his assertion of the government's 'belief' is so obvious as to be completely worthless. Much like Mr Trust-Fund himself. Let's raise a people's army and seize control of the state."

It seems to your original/regular Diary that the football is much the same. Today Grimsby Town fans are expected to be pleased at the Shouty manager's verdict on his new signings. "We're very happy with the squad that we've brought in," is the co-boss's analysis. "The players that we've signed... have raised the level of quality that we have at the club."

Let's boil that down, then, to its essentials.

  • The GTFC squad is better than it was before the signings of Andy Cook, Joe Colbeck, Sam Hatton, Aswad Thomas, Greg Pearson, Derek Niven, Greg Fleming and Simon Ford
  • The managers are pleased about that

    Just as every manager insists that his players are so much fitter and more committed to the cause than the last bunch of wasters, so every season apparently begins with a higher "level of quality" than we had before. And by virtue of both, the Mariners are now, of course, fully equipped for a serious tilt at promotion.

    The intelligent supporter, at this point, is compelled to draw one of two conclusions. One is that every Grimsby Town manager since 2003 has been telling the truth and that these constantly improving, promotion-ready squads have, in fact, battled their way to the upper echelons of the Premier League and Champions League glory.

    The other is... well, you can figure that out for yourself. See you back at Blundell Park.