Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 20 February 2006

20 February 2006

On 13 May 2004 Scottish lorry drivers launched a sticker campaign against what they described as the high cost of fuel, a new charity called the Arrhythmia Alliance was launched to promote better understanding, diagnosis, treatment and quality of life for individuals with cardiac arrhythmias, and the Diary ran a story about a footballer called Simon Hackney and his recent trial with Grimsby Town FC. After scoring 17 goals that season from the left wing for Woodley Sports FC in the North-West Counties League, Hackney turned up for a reserve game with the newly relegated Mariners only to be asked by another member of the GTFC playing squad: "What the fucking hell are you doing coming all the way from Manchester to a shithole club like this?" The player returned to his club and a few months later joined Carlisle United, who then belonged to the Football Conference. On 18 February 2006 Hackney scored his first goals in the Football League: two, to be precise, in the Cumbrians' win over Rushden, which takes them to the top of the fourth division, three places above Grimsby. Even as you tear your hair out in rage and despair, you have to admit there's kind of a neat symmetry about all that, isn't there?

So let's pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and note firstly that Carlisle's lead over the Mariners amounts to only two points and secondly that Town have played a game less, Saturday's scheduled trip to Rochdale having been postponed because of fears that the players would sink into the boggy Spotland pitch and only the tops of Rob Jones' and Fen Butcher's heads would remain visible. Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala Kamudimba Kalala and Luton's Michael Reddy, who would have missed the match through suspension, will now sit out this weekend's visit by Chester instead, as will Gary 'Compact and Bijou' Croft.