Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 2 March 2006

2 March 2006

He came. He put together one of the best Town sides ever. The board dicked him about and he buggered off. Then a bit later he became a managerial legend at Liverpool. I guess he wouldn't have stayed forever even if the board hadn't dicked him about, but in their frequently self-pitying moments Grimsby fans like to imagine what might have been had he thrown in his lot at Blundell Park for the long haul. Anyway, now his name and image are being used by GTFC to promote the latest in a long line of QXL auctions (why do they use QXL and not eBay, anyway?), which offers two people the opportunity to manage a Mariners team against a team of fans for a kickabout on Friday 19 May. "Could you be the man to follow in the steps of such GTFC icons as Bill Shankly?" asks the blurb, immediately alienating 51 per cent of its potential customers. At the time of the Diary going live, the auction has been viewed by 70 people and bid on by just one, who has offered the sum of one English pound. Anyone fancy a whipround? I think we should buy the chance to manage the team - which will include in its line-up the short-fused current Town manager Mr Russell Slade - and then donate it to Martin Burns.

The depths of the barrel may have been plumbed in a scrapey kind of way when the Grimsby Telegraph was recently forced to report the whereabouts of Ludovic Dje, but this week's Mariners news drought shows no signs of letting up as the local paper continues to pursue the careers of former players signed by Nicky Law. Jamie 'Five Games' Lawrence, we learned earlier this week, is now doing his thing for Worthing FC, and now our lives are enhanced further by the knowledge that Paul 'Five Starts Plus Two Sub Appearances' Warhurst was, shockingly, denied the chance to debut for Scarborough in Tuesday night's scheduled clash with York City in the semi-final of the North Riding FA Senior Cup. Damn that weather.

And that, my friends, is that for a depressingly slow news week with your regular Diary, and a miserably fourth-placed-in-the-league week at that. But return ye tomorrow for the avuncular news stylings of Guest Diary and all the team news for Saturday's trip to Rushden, eh? Good night and good luck.