Cod Almighty | Diary
If you can remember Pocketbooks on the train in 2007, you weren't there
1 September 2016
Mr O is a supporter of Grimsby Town Football Club. When Grimsby Town Football Club were in the Conference Premier he believed Shaun Pearson, Josh Gowling and Andrew Boyce were all very good central defenders. Now that Grimsby Town are in the fourth division he believes none of them are good enough. Mr O has also stated many times that any difference in standards between the Conference Premier and the fourth division is negligible at most. Provide a philosophical justification for Mr O's position, taking no longer than three hours. Show your working.
Three new players, then, and not a centre-half among 'em. Still, a goalie from Man U, eh? That'll keep Jimmy Mac quite literally on his toes. If you're wretched enough to go and watch Town against Leicester City's B team, whenever that is, you'll also be trembling with delight at the revelation that Jose Mourinho has now officially heard of us. Yes – revel in the staggering news that the transfer of a footballer was approved by the manager at his club. Chuckle at the image of Paul Hurst deciding to give, say, Zak Mills a start away at Notts County, then baffled by the player's absence, and finally informed that Mills is either on loan at Lincoln City or behind the fridge.
Sorry, you wanted what? Insight? Sorry. You'll need Mardy Diary back for that sort of thing. Your original/regular common/garden variety is far too pleased that Shaun Tuton rhymes with my favourite couplet in popular music to do any proper research.
The third of yesterday's arrivals (or chronologically speaking, the second; that way lies madness) was of course Brandon Comley, who has been with Queens Park Rangers since he was nine. So, eleven years then. The fact that Comley is a central midfielder, coupled with the further fact that we have exactly loads of central midfielders already, suggests a gloomy prognosis for Sean McAllister, Town's best signing of 2016 by a mile, who has missed the last few games with as yet unidentified knack. A warm welcome, regardless, to Brandon, who, having impressed on loan to Carlisle last season, clearly has a taste for northern footballing outposts that is as welcome as it is unusual in a young Londoner.
Right – I think that's everyone. Comley doesn't rhyme with anything though. Apart from Bromley, and you don't want to go there.
Your OR/D, as I'd be called if there were a Football Manager for CA diarists, really enjoyed a piece yesterday about our increasingly beloved gaffer. Paul Hurst's praises are being sung loudly in the Football League Paper by his former Rotherham teammate Guy Branston, who, it emerges, was the driving force behind Notts County's attempts to poach the Town boss last season. For me, Gary, the stand-out observation here is that "Paul was always a tenacious little fucker". Amazingly, Bromley is one of Guy Branston's middle names. And that's not a Cod Almighty fact – that's a Wikipedia fact.
New stuff on CA klaxon! With a visit looming to one of Town's geographically closest fourth-division opponents, don't miss Sarah's excellent Rough Guide to Notts County over in our features section. If you're one of the 2,000-odd Town fans (and there's an important hyphen for you) who are off to Meadow Lane this Sat, you'll have to do an extra cheer for me. As it costs a staggering 22 pounds to get in and (as regular and attentive readers will know) I haven't got any money any more, I won't be there. I'll be fine though, don't worry. Taking the kids to a party, checking my phone for updates, fending off attempts at small talk from other parents, cherishing the memory of Rob Atkinson in 2009. Drinking from a hip flask in the corner. I'll be fine.
And if you still need anything to read, many years ago some buffoon or other wrote something about what happened on this day in 2001. A very happy top of the league day to you all.