Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 3 May 2006

3 May 2006

GTFC are reporting a fair few injuries in the run-up to this Saturday's must-win but-it-might-not-make-any-difference encounter with Northampton at Blundell Park, though before we panic it should be noted that GTFC are not the sort of namby-pamby club to let an injury stop them fielding a player. The club's official website has announced that there is "almost a full team in the treatment room" comprising, in descending order of significance, Sir John McDermott, Rob Jones, Paul Bolland, Gary Jones, Luton's Michael Reddy, Miles Chamberlain, Paul Ashton, John Lukic and Tom Newey. There's a photo of Dave Moore on the page. Dave Moore is the club physiotherapist. There isn't a quote from him or anything, but he's the physiotherapist so he will be the one treating all these injured players. Got that? Good.

Remember the green seats? Course you do. Back in November, as Town tumbled out of three cups in 12 minutes and the signs began to appear that, actually, the team might not be crowned fourth division champions by February with a record 238 points, superstitious Mariners suspected that the team's apparent loss of form might have been caused not by its lack of tactical flexibility and reliance on percentage football but by the unlucky emerald-hued temporary seating used to accommodate five-minute fans who briefly declared themselves Grimsby 'til I die during the side's headline-grabbing League Cup run. Anyway, they probably won't be back in place for the Northampton match, because there isn't much time to put them back up, so the sell-out capacity crowd will most likely be around 8,600 rather than 9,100 or whatever it was supposed to be before. Shrewd move by the club to put the tickets on sale before the Macclesfield game, when it looked like Town would still be playing for something against the Cobblers, eh?

It was of course a former Grimsby player, Paul Harsley, who created the goal that more or less ended Town's promotion hopes at Moss Rose. Another ex-Mariner, Jamie Forrester, contributed substantially towards Mr Russell Slade's misery at Lincoln just over a month ago. Back on the opening day of the season it was Chris Hargreaves, lately of this parish, whose goal for Oxford denied GTFC two crucial home points. And so the list goes on. One name that has not come back to haunt us in the same way - but give him chance - is that of Greg 'Young Greg' Young, the talented left-sided defender who was allowed to leave for Halifax in February 2005, though he has been named in the England non-League squad to play Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales later this month. Oh, look - Wayne Brown is there too, playing for Hereford. He must have made up that thing about being signed by a club in Denmark just to get away from his trial at Blundell Park last summer.

Matthew Le Tissier is to visit Blundell Park as part of a "special Sportsmen's Evening" at McMenemy's later this month. The hook-nosed former Southampton genius will appear on 22 May, assuming that the event is not cancelled a week beforehand, alongside someone called Gary Marshall, who, according to Town's official website, is a "well-known comedian": a description that would surely be unnecessary if it were true.

Today's final word comes from Richard Bedwell, whose email to the Diary begins: "I always assumed that Macca was the longest serving player at Town." But...? "Not according to footballtransfers.net - that honour goes to Andrew Pettinger. For the hard of seeing, Sir John is listed as a player-coach, but more worryingly is the appearance of Mr Antoine-Curier. Get well soon, Luton's Michael Reddy." Thanks, Bedders - and while we're on the subject, did you realise that the corridors of BP are haunted by the ghost of Disco Des Hamilton and that Pettinger's goalkeeping jersey is contested by Bradley Hughes and Ossett Town defender Kirk Wheeler? It's true. I read it in the Guardian.