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Diary - Thursday 9 March 2006

9 March 2006

As already reported elsewhere about three days ago and completely missed by the Diary on account of my being a total loser, John 'Fentydome' Fenty has told Radio Humberside that Mr Russell Slade, Rob Jones and Steve Mildenhall have all been made 'final offers' of new contracts. Yeah, well. We may not always be the first, but we're the best punctuated. So just when the Diary thought I'd got my head round the whole extra year option thing, it seems Town have to make offers to those players after all rather than just tell them they're staying another year. As for Slade, the news follows last month's developments when the GTFC boss spilt the beans to his chums at the BBC that he was - heh! - fishing for a new deal at Grimsby, casting back the minds of many supporters to this time last year, when his initial one-year contract was extended until 2006 and his players responded by winning only one of the season's final ten matches.

In other news that would have made yesterday's or the day before's Diary if I were remotely any good at anything, Town and Walsall have fixed a date for their Midland Youth Cup final. The match will take place on the M6 - OK, on Bescot Stadium; let's not split hairs - on Tuesday 25 April, by which time it will be staying light longer in the evenings, which is presumably why the word 'floodlit' has vanished from the title of the competition.

Yesterday's quote about 81 points perhaps being enough for automatic promotion, ostensibly given by Russell Slade to the BBC, has been sensationally contested by Town's official website. The Beeb's report clearly followed the quote with the words "Slade told BBC Sport", but today the OS has hit back, running the same quote suffixed with the words "he told the official website". The club is thought to be planning a voucher system to ensure loyal supporters receive ringside seats for the forthcoming fight between Dave Smith and Gary Lineker.

And on this droll note of cartoon violence the regular Diary bids you cheerio for another working week, tarrying only to urge your return here tomorrow, when one of Cod Almighty's awesome team of guest diarists will be on hand to talk to you about Justin Whittle's tender parts. So long and thanks for reading.