The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

Rope-a-dope

19 July 2018

Back in 1974, at the famous Rumble in the Jungle in (what was then) Zaire, former world champion Muhammad Ali let the undefeated George Foreman pummel away at him before springing to life in the eighth round and winning by a knockout. It wasn't easy viewing, but Ali (and arguably his trainer) was lauded as a genius for coming up with such a tactic to win what was – on paper – an unwinnable fight.

Jump back to the present and Town have now lost three pre-season games, including a second consecutive loss to neighbours Cleethorpes Town…

Yes, there's not much in the news and so your Devon Diary is cack-handedly comparing Michael Jolley to Ali. Hey, original/regular Diary compared him to Jesus yesterday, so what else could I do?

Anyway, yes, a young Town side came up short against the Owls in the Lincs Senior Cup last night and so the first chance of silverware is gone at the first hurdle. Actually, second hurdle, because we didn't have a first hurdle match while Cleethorpes beat Scunny in theirs. By all accounts the yoof – padded out with first-teamers Max Wright and Ahkeem Rose and trialist Reece Flanagan – did OK and there were positives to take, including a peach of a goal by Wright and a barnstorming performance by Buckley Jr Jr, also topped with a goal.

Also yesterday it was confirmed that Newcastle's under-21s are the fourth team in Town's Auto Windscreens group and therefore by my reckoning that's all of the Football League teams playing in black and white in the same group. Unless of course Forest Green revert to their proper colours. 

Reading of the Martin Paterson rumour in yesterday's diary got me thinking about what makes the perfect summer transfer rumour. Potentially Paterson has it all: he used to play for us; he wasn't bad at all; he still has family in the area by all accounts (well, someone on the Fishy plays golf with his dad); he's experienced but not too old and get this – someone saw a M Pato number plate at the Humber Royal! Factor in that this is totally leftfield and bingo! It's perfect. 

The Burnley link doesn't quite work, of course, as Paterson had left Turf Moor before Jolley arrived. If their orbits had already intersected we'd be rushing down the club shop already to get his name on our shirts.

One last thing. If you have a minute then check out this great set of graphics by Ben Mayhew illustrating squad churn. To date, this summer only Cheltenham have made more changes than Town in the fourth division.

Neat!