Cod Almighty | Diary

Sort of like looking at ships from the Findus

23 June 2026

For those reading today, I refer you to yesterday's entry from Miss Guest Diary. June and football concerns don't go together at the best of times, and that's never more so this week.

Forget what your fourth form teacher told you as they ended your window-gazing with a well-aimed duster, distraction can be a good thing. Of course June and summer is when, if not hijacked by oil nuts, international tournaments get played. Thirty years of hurt is thirty years ago and, to echo yesterday's diary, the hurt was never really such.

Regardless, it has been replaced by feelings of vague interest, becoming more of a "nowt better to do" distraction. For Daubney, international football is akin to a large cargo ship passing Blundell Park on a matchday afternoon. Similarities between the turning circle of an England defender and a DFDS car transporter are your own to draw, I'm just looking forward to those smug gits Baddiel and Skinner trying to get "60 years of nowt better to do, sort of like looking at ships from the Findus" to scan in the chorus.

In that vein of silly yet welcome distraction, some at CA have been ticking off World Cup players who have faced Town or like DFDS, visited Blundell Park. Last night's France v Iraq gave us a few more, notably Ali Al-Hamadi who earned Wimbledon a penalty on the opening day of 2023-24 season only to dust himself off and have Jake Eastwood save his resultant spot kick.

Like one of those seeing eye posters last popular about the same time as Baddiel and Skinner, but twice as clever, if you stare at the World Cup colours for long enough opponents start popping out of the blur like stars and planets. The only challenge is not forgetting to come back to the telly after those damned hydration breaks. UTM