Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 8 April 2009

8 April 2009

Greetings, reader! All the hot news that is germane to the Mariners today comes from other clubs. I use the word 'today' with some hesitation, as your normally pulse-thinking, finger-on-the-blue-skies Diary only realised yesterday afternoon that the goalkeeper with Town's relegation rivals Chester - one of the Deviants' three decent players, of course - could miss the rest of the season with the injury he picked up when Notts County let them win last Saturday. It is uncertain why, as the Liverpool Daily Post reports, John Danby "hobbled off" with a shoulder injury, but perhaps it was one of those really nasty shoulder injuries that give you a dead leg as well. Don't plan street parties just yet, though, Town fans - with no other senior goalkeepers on the books, Chester will probably be given permission to sign a replacement before the weekend, despite the deadline for all transfers including loans having passed by the other week and the additional transfer embargo imposed on the club because of the shyster in the chairman's office.

All of this is mere froth and bubble, however, compared with the scandal that this week threatens to overtake both Chester - on top of all the other scandal that's overtaken them already - and Town's opponents this Saturday, Accrington Stanley. After a ten-month investigation the FA has charged five players with illegal betting on the Stanley v Bury game at the back end of last season: Jay Harris, David Mannix, Robbie Williams and Peter Cavanagh were on the books at Accrington at the time and Andrew Mangan was with Bury. Harris and Mannix have played for Chester this season, while Williams and Cavanagh remain key players with the Lancashire side. All are accused of backing Stanley to lose, which they did, 2-0 - and bookies stopped taking bets in the run-up to the match after noticing dodgy-looking patterns of betting. In normal circumstances the destabilising effect of the FA charges could be expected to have a devastating effect in the changing rooms of both clubs; as it turns out there'll probably be some sort of galvanising, rallying round thing going on instead and squeaky clean Town will end up shafted.

Cavanagh, you may remember, was the player quoted in the Lancashire Telegraph piece linked to from yesterday's Diary, saying Accrington will come to Blundell Park this weekend "looking for a win". "I'm not surprised Cavanagh wants to win on Saturday," writes Mark Stilton in an email to the Diary. "He's probably got a £5 accumulator on it."

The fans who run the Grimsby pages of the Vital Football website have come up with a quite intriguing item about the apparent spat between GTFC and Humberside Police in the run-up to the recent derby against Lincoln. The police, you may recall, wanted an early kick-off because of the fairly minimal threat of disorder, while the club wanted 3pm, and the club won. The piece is not flawlessly presented ("Why weren't [potential troublemakers] turned around under police section 27 [sic]?", ask the Vitals, who elsewhere on their site campaign against the use of Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act on football fans and link to a factsheet explaining that "There is no power to apply S27 collectively against a group of people") but indirectly quotes an anonymous police officer to the effect that Plod's intransigence was rooted in an ongoing row with the club over policing costs (Town pay £60,000 a year, Lincoln £20,000) which bears an astonishing resemblance to the club's recent disagreements with several other organisations. I guess when you've had blazing arguments with the Professional Footballers' Association, the BBC, your local newspaper, the local authority, Natural England, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs and a 14-year-old fanzine editor, and you're wondering where to go next to satisfy your pathological need for a public shouting match, the police are bound to figure sooner or later.

Lastly today, Town's reserve team lost 2-1 at plucky little Scunthorpe last night, fighting back strongly after shipping two early goals but failing to add to Matt Heywood's headed consolation goal. "It's important we keep everyone sharp and match-fit like Prouds, Forbesy, Bosh and Jarmo," said the watching Mariners boss Newzy.