Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 9 May 2006

9 May 2006

By close of play last night Town's season ticket office had already shifted around 1,000 of the 1,500-odd tickets very kindly handed over by Lincoln for the first leg of the clubs' fourth division play-off semi-final at Sincil Bank this Saturday. Assuming that the ticket office was open for eight hours, the rate of ticket sales averages out at around one every 30 seconds, or about the same frequency with which the Imps play a long ball. Pot? Kettle? Diary? The remaining 500 tickets are likely to be taken today. The Mariners' meagre allocation is - as the club's official website points out - 900 short of the number of season ticket holders at Blundell Park, and ingenious Town fans who are expected to miss out are already thought to be devising new and innovative ways to blame GTFC instead of Lincoln for their impending disappointment. Elsewhere today the OS has a little piece about the rules of the play-off which suggests that the away goals rule will not apply, although given the Mariners' recent away form this may simply be wishful thinking.

Lincoln's preparations for the weekend's festivities are unlikely to be affected by the re-emergence of rumours linking Keith Alexander with Peterborough. As long ago as 2003 the Imps boss was said to figure highly on Barry Fry's wishlist, just behind chips, pizza, kebabs, burgers and deep-fried lard pies, and recent whispers that the well-built Posh supremo has reawakened his interest in Big Keef have found their way into today's Daily Mirror. Straw-seeking Town fans can probably spare themselves the bother of clutching, as the paper's standards of journalistic accuracy are indicated by its description of Alexander as "former Lincoln City boss". It is possible that the Mirror knows something we don't, but it's probably something about Pete Doherty or Chantelle Houghton.

Think of Rochdale, it is said, and you think of disappointment, Tony Ford and a waterlogged pitch. If you tend to see former GTFC left-backs through rose-tinted glasses rather than an alcoholic haze, you might also think of Tony Gallimore and wish you'd appreciated him a bit more before he left BP for Barnsley in 2003 and wound up at Spotland a year later. You might also note that the player has been released by Dale boss Steve Parkin and think: "Oooh!" for a minute before you remember the relentless march of Time's army and the endless war it wages for all of our souls, in which defeat is inevitable and Death the universal constant, and then you realise that Galli is now 34 years old and relinquish your own dwindling decades on this mortal plane to blank despair. But hey, it's not all bad, because Rochdale have also offered a new two-year contract to Simon Ramsden.

Yesterday the Diary ran an email from Daniel Wignall recommending with considerable vehemence that Rambo's team-mate Rickie Lambert ought to be top of Mr Russell Slade's summer shopping list. Your suggestions about who else Town should sign have been nothing if not pragmatic. "Goodfellow, Mildenhall and JPK would be a bloody good start," writes CA's own Mat Hare, while Mark Wilson looks over the water for inspiration. "Thanks for your interesting idea about who's caught my eye and could sign for Town in the close season," he writes. "Can I come back to you when King$ton Communication$ FC have made it clear who will be available on a free this summer? Thanks."

Finally today, a brief reminder that any Grimbarians not attending one of the town's world-class five-star restaurants or avant-garde underground theatres this evening might care to toddle along to McMenemy's for this year's GTFC awards presentation thingummy, as the Grimsby Telegraph reports that a few tickets will be sold on the door. Glen Downey, prepare your speech.