Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 20 February 2009

20 February 2009

Your Guest Diarist has to admit being a Radio 2 listener to be able to tell you this. And at a time when the most evil broadcaster of the past twenty years was on air. A man on whom I have sworn that a terrible vengeance will be mine. But, getting to the point, the 2pm news bulletin yesterday must have been a bit thin for material because the Grimsby v Lincoln derby fiasco made the airwaves on the national radio news announcing that the Council had been forced to over rule a police request to play the match behind closed doors.

Now I have been going to derby games for the best part of forty years and have formed the unshakeable opinion that the more fuss made beforehand, the more visible and draconian the pre-match and post match policing, the more fired up things get. Two years ago in Lincoln Mrs GD nearly missed her train home at five o'clock on a Saturday afternoon because the police refused her entry to the station - even when she tried to show a valid ticket for travel in the opposite direction to Grimsby to a hyperventilating, sweating copper in a stab-proof vest. A middle-aged woman with bags of shopping deemed to be a potential trouble-maker. The actual 'trouble-makers' she said were about twenty 14-18 year olds singing Town songs as they were frog-marched to their train by about fifty police, two of whom were filming the whole event. Sorry folks, but I don't subscribe to this 'if-you-haven't-done-anything-wrong-you-have-nothing-to worry-about-all-to-do-with health-and-safety-data-protection bullshit. No smoking, no drinking, no shouting and soon no thinking.

Meanwhile the Town squad have been training to prepare for their away match at Darlo tomorrow. A team whom we never ever beat. I trailed up there last season but knew, even at 2-0 up, we were doomed. Quite why this lot (like Wycombe) still hang around the bottom division just defeats me.

Manager Newell must be a bit of a fan as he says he has watched Darlington four or five times this season. They have a number of players through the spine of their team who are just too good to be playing in the bottom tier I reckon, and a manager who is nearly as good as ours. But if we can win at Wycombe we can win in that horrible big empty stadium. And at least we have most of our players back.

Newell reports that Stockdale has trained all week. He says that Clarke is fit too, as, he claims, is Tom Newey. Mr Newey himself has made no comment I can find about this assertion. Dean Sinclair is expected to train today too but, Newell ruefully admitted, Saturday will come 'too soon' for our hamstrung Frenchman M. Jean Louis Akpa-Akpro. "If we have got every body available we can compete with these top teams" declared Newell safe in the alibi of the injured striker.

Town are a meagre 6/1 to win tomorrow - remember I told you to take the 7/1 when we went to Wycombe but you need to be rabid in all senses to have a go here. 3/1 for the draw is worth thinking about if you are an optimistic soul who believes that Town really always do play well against superior opponents. Regular readers will be starting to detect fact-file substitution in progress here as I tell you that man Laws who sent off Kalala and was generally one-eyed all game, will be in charge. That seals it - doomed to defeat. See yer.