Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 10 July 2009

10 July 2009

Sometimes things improve with change. The appointment of Mike Newell is renewing the club. And yet, although you could view Mr Re-Newell as a younger manager, he doesn't really act like one too often. To your Guest Diarist, who of course has never met him, he seems to fit the mould of good traditional managers I have watched from afar since the seventies. He knows the score, has an honest streak, knows when to speak his mind and when to keep his gob shut, and players like and respect him. Fans trust his judgement; the chairman defers to him. A squad is being assembled which has bought in to what he wants to do on the football pitch.

This pre-season means he and Mr Stein, together with that redoubtable fixture Dave Moore, can get our players fit, organised and enthusiastic. Fair-weather fans will whine about who is going to play in goal; who will be our right winger; predict that Bennett will still leave before a serious ball is kicked. But with a precious few quid fluttering down from the heavens as our portion of the Rob Jones transfer, and even the weather cooling down so the lads can go an extra mile every day, it all looks pretty damn good to me.

Except of course, sometimes change can be absolute crap. I remember being put to bed early some nights in the very early sixties because me mam wanted to watch Corrie in peace. I could hear the theme music through the bedroom wall of our bungalow and used to lie there trying to imagine what this programme could be all about. Coronation Street has been broadcast at half seven on a Wednesday for nearly 50 years. And now it won't be - replaced with about 20 minutes of adverts interspersed with that Andy Townsend talking absolute bollocks about an upcoming boring Champions League group game.

Now soap operas are bollocks too, before you start, but some bollocks has earned its place in the pantheon of TV. It won't last, believe me: within a year the Earth will notice and deliver a tiny adjustment to its axis and order will be restored. You read it here first, gentle reader.

The superb new official website has announced another trialist - young winger Nathan Arnold from Mansfield. Now Mr Arnold, we know, has potential. Forget his Wikipedia-reported England 'C' call up. No, think more about how he played against us in February 2008 when he skinned that Newey at will. And scored a decent goal. Now you half-emptiers can sneer that anyone can turn that Newey and delightfully curl a low shot in to the bottom corner. But hey, this guy is England C class! But Newell will know - and he has Jarman and Forbes to compare him to.

So to a day flicking between the Ashes and the Tour de France. Let's hope we grab an early wicket or two and that Cav hangs on to the green jersey. Man that guy is fast. See yer.