Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 8 September 2004

8 September 2004

"Nobody's interested in what happens to the reserve team, are they?!" spluttered the Diary's brother a few months ago when I was explaining to him one day that actually, yes, there is usually just enough GTFC news every day to fill this column and keep people reading it. The world of the proper football supporter, you see, is one apart from that of my Murdoch-guzzling kid bro, who would doubtless be horrified to learn that I am descending still further into obscurity today to bring you news of Town's youth team, who are through to the next round of the Midland Youth Cup after winning a penalty shoot-out at Lincoln on Monday and now face Swindon at home in the next round. Granted, I don't actually know what the Midland Youth Cup is, nor whether the Mariners' kids enter it instead of or as well as that proper FA Youth Cup thing, the one Man U's lot won that time and you still see photos of them with a fresh-faced and innocent young Robbie Savage lining up alongside Becks 'n' co, like those weird pics of Osama bin Laden on holiday on the beach with his mum and dad. Sorry, getting off the point there.

The estimable Mr Paul Thundercliffe has emailed the Diary about Cod Almighty's copyright-busting new mp3 download. "Fantastic to hear the brilliant 'Up the Mariners'," he writes, "a lot more 'skiffley' than I ever remember. Some ace lyrics and a great penny whistle key change. The line 'Just to even up the score, we'll get goals all the more' must have meant that we always conceded a few goals back in those days and used to settle for a draw. Still, must be better than 3-4-3." Or maybe "the score" has a wider reference and Grimsby's victories on the football pitch were one way in which the town could exact revenge for the fishing quotas introduced in the 1970s, when the lyric was composed. Sorry again - I'm getting all A-level English now. "This isn't the best song, however," continues Paul. "The one recorded in 1990, which was supposed to be a bit like 'World in Motion' with a rap and stuff was better. Had some cartoon drwings on the front and some commentary by John Moore. The main bit went: 'We're the Mariners, and we play to win, and we're going and we're going and we're going for goal.' Now if you could find THAT..." Pfff! That doesn't even rhyme!

Didn't Boston do well, eh.