Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 1 October 2002

1 October 2002

Town's latest trialists are American winger-cum-striker Jake Sagare and splendidly named Australian Jason Dimozantos. Both will feature in this week's reserve game, says the official site, neglecting to add when and where. Maybe they save that for Mariners World subscribers. Luckily, Cod Almighty can reveal that the match is tomorrow, at York. Anyway, Sagare has been playing for a team called Portland Timbers in whatever the USA second division is called. Assistant manager Graham Rodger says his source reckons there are similarities between Sagare and former Town striker Michael Boulding. Twenty-year-old centre-half Dimozantos, meanwhile, spent several weeks on trial with Sheffield United in the summer, but to no avail.

The Blundell Park roar is expected to rise by between a major fifth and an octave for this Saturday's clash with Reading as GTFC announce that children are to be let in free. The club promises that up to two kids can accompany any "full-paying adult" at no extra charge.

Player-manager Paul Groves, who in his entire career has missed about four minutes of football through injury, saw a chiropractor yesterday for the calf strain he picked up in Saturday's win at Brighton, and must surely be fit for the Reading match.

Yet another ex-Mariner finds the net, this time Michael 'Quite Fast' Boulding, currently on loan from Aston Villa to Sheffield United. The player marked his full debut tonight with a goal in the Blades' 4-1 Worthy Cup win over Wycombe, and laid on another for Michael Brown. Hey ho.

In news a little further afield than the Grimsby Road, FIFA topbod Sepp Blatter has announced that next year's Confederations Cup will trial a Michel Platini idea of having four linesmen - the two additional officials stood behind the goal-lines. It is not clear whether the extra two will be inside the goal or alongside and behind it. Further FIFA announcements include an imminent study of Sepp's (eponymous?) 'joker' transfer scheme, whereby teams will be allowed one signing outside of the transfer windows. This scheme, it seems, is currently in use in France. Why they get away with transfer window exemption is not clear. This proposal will be discussed at a FIFA Players' Status Committee meeting on Friday when also on the agenda is the Nationwide League's appeal for its clubs to be exempt from the transfer window.

Intriguingly, Watford chairman Graham Simpson has asked the fans of his club to help the club find £9.5 million to avoid administration. "I was at the play-off final in 1999 - one of the greatest days of my life. We had 32,000 there that day. I would ask all of those 32,000 to donate £50 for the good of the club. If that happened it would make a difference," says the man who persuaded his players to take a 12 per cent pay cut. It'd be interesting to see what the response would be if Town launched a similar appeal.