Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Tuesday 19 January 2010
19 January 2010
There wasn't much to shout about in the 2008-09 season for Grimsby Town, but the club achieved one important thing that Chester City did not, which was to retain their status in the Football League. And if that limited aim should prove too much for the Mariners in the 2009-10 campaign, we will at least be able to boast again of an attainment that was beyond Chester: keeping Michael Coulson on loan for the whole season. Just before his arrival at Blundell Park in November, the 21-year-old frontman had spent a month with the Deviants, who were unable to retain his services for any longer than that because they were owned by a crook and didn't have any money left. After already spending two months with Town, though, Coulson has now extended his loan to the end of the season, because Town are owned by a respectable businessman and don't have any money left.
The picture is not quite so bright with Damien McCrory, sad to say. The sprightly young left-back's parent club Plymouth have declined to extend his loan and McCrory has returned to Home Park so they can have a look at how he's developed during two months in a desperate relegation scrap at the foot of the fourth division and see if he isn't too damaged by the trauma. "They may decide he can leave again and if that happens, we have been promised first refusal on Damien," explains Neil Woodses in today's Grimsby Telegraph, Damien himself presumably having either no say in the matter or already committed himself enthusiastically to the Mariners' dirty battle for survival after taking some sort of nasty bang on the head.
And lastly in today's spin of the transfer window Russian roulette revolver, or something, Town are taking a look at former Hibernian striker Tam McManus. The 28-year-old Glaswegian has experienced an interesting career which has spanned clubs as diverse as Colorado Rapids and Boston United and will line up for the Mariners' reserves at home to Huddersfield tomorrow afternoon, assuming that the club is able to secure international clearance in time, which means he won't line up for the Mariners' reserves at home to Huddersfield tomorrow afternoon. Good luck to Tam, who only has to be more effective up front this season than Barry Fucking Conlon, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, Adam Proudlock, Adrian Forbes, Chris Jones, Nathan Jarman, Danny North, Wes Fletcher, Josh Magennis, Ben Wright and Straight Peter Bore. Did I miss anyone?
And lastly in everything today, the green shoots of Town's alleged recovery continue to sprout everywhere, with a first appearance in chuffing ages for a Mariner in the Football League's fourth division team of the week thing. Well, it's two Mariners, to be numerically exact, as the shut-out against Cheltenham has earned the accolades for both Paul Linwood and Nick Colgan. Well, it's three Mariners, to be contractually exact, but Barry Fucking Conlon's star showing for new loan club Chesterfield was every bit as inevitable as his subsequent failure to give a monkey's bollock once they make it permanent and he knows his tab is picked up for an extra year. Well played!