Cod Almighty | Diary

Norway 0 Yes way 1

4 September 2014

Something something Jamal Fyfield something. Something something former Mariners transfer target something loan something. Oh, hang on – here's… something.

Two things happened in 2010. Non-League Day was invented in a bid to improve the profile of non-League football; and Grimsby Town became a non-League football club. Possibly not envisaging that they would still be a non-League football club for long, Grimsby Town (so far as your original/regular Diary remembers) declined to become involved in any official capacity with Non-League Day.

Contrary to those expectations, the Mariners scarcely look any closer to rejoining the Football League today than four years ago. So it is, then, that Town will join the rest of the Conference Premier this weekend in trying to break the league's combined attendance record for Non-League Day. There's a target of 50,000 and Bananarama will donate to prostate cancer research per head of attendance. So keen, in fact, have GTFC become to join in with NLD on an official level that they've even put a trademark misplaced apostrophe in the headline.

So there you are: we are officially no longer in denial. Which is sad in some ways because at least it's warmer than being in de Humber. What? The 1970s just called and they want their jokes back?

Oh, here's… something else. Aristote Nsiala was not booked during last weekend's match at Aldershot Town. Nor, admittedly, were Andrew Boyce, Craig Clay, Jon-Paul Pittman, Rob Scott, Tony Ford, Nanette Newman or Genesis P Orridge, but we're not reporting those because (presumably) nobody thought they had been. Nsiala, on the other hand, had been reported as having received a caution, but actually didn't. I know, right? Life just moves too quickly in Lincolnshire.

Last up today – and this is bloody great – Town are still close to a ticket sell-out for this season's away game at Lincoln City, despite the fixture having been moved from its Christmas derby slot to a Tuesday night in September. The recent sequence of vigorous festive tonkings by the Mariners prompted Imps bosses to ask the Conference: "Umm… can we play someone else on Boxing Day this year please?", presumably in the hope that Grimbarians would be put off inspiring their team to parochial supremacy by having to travel on a school night. Undeterred Town fans, however, have snapped up more than 1,500 tickets for the trip next Tuesday. LLOLLL. See yers.