Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Monday 24 April 2006
24 April 2006
Luton's Michael Reddy is set to spend the week in bed in a bid to regain full fitness in time for this Saturday's visit to Macclesfield. The Mariners' official website reports that the struggling frontman is all hurty after his team's recent win over Cheltenham and will sit out training all week before seeing the physio this Friday to see whether he can make the journey west at the weekend. For several weeks now Reddy - who has just been named in the PFA's fourth division team of the season, voted for in early February, apparently - has been declared doubtful ahead of Town's matches only to break through the pain barrier and onto the team sheet, earning his manager Mr Russell Slade a reputation not so much as the boy who cried wolf but as the boss who cried groin.
Russ's vanquished Cheltenham counterpart John Ward, interestingly, has spoken of the build-up to last Friday's game and the atmosphere once it had begun. In particular, Ward feels that the Mariners were assisted by the Grimsby Telegraph's front page coverage on the day and the noise created by the home fans on the night, who, he says, "were terrific". Anyone remember February 2005, when Gary Johnson brought his excellent Yeovil team to Blundell Park and later pointed out the enormous difference between the quality of home support during the first half - after which Town were trailing one-nil - and the second, when goals from Martin Gritton and Andy Parkinson snatched three points against the eventual champions? Have we progressed a little, or have the promotion race and springtime sunshine gone straight to my head?
If Michelle Lalor's Grimsby Telegraph is showing surprisingly strong support for GTFC at this critical stage of the season, the club itself is still unleashing bullets into its own toes. As anyone knows who has tried to contact the Mariners using the email address that still appears in the club's customer charter, customerservice@gtfc.co.uk is defunct - and customer service at Grimsby Town Football Club was also defunct this morning for one of the Cod Almighty team, who had to telephone no fewer than ten times before being able to buy a ticket to the promotion decider against Northampton on 6 May. Let's not forget last Friday's tannoy announcement that the ticket office would be open on Saturday, hastily followed by the official website's announcement that no, the ticket office wouldn't be open on Saturday. And doesn't the OS's declaration that Northampton - three points above Town with six points left to contest - are "almost certain to grab the second spot in League 2" strike you as just a trifle pessimistic by even Grimbarian standards?