Cod Almighty | Diary

A Danny Rose by any other name

26 August 2026

I've always had a fascination for names that seem unbelievable or ridiculous at first hearing but after you've heard them a few times they sound completely normal. Elon Musk, for example. Or Benedict Cumberbatch. Or Acker Bilk. Go on, look at the words Acker and Bilk. Do they form a name? No. Yet I'll swear you read them and just pictured a man in a waistcoat playing a clarinet rather than wondering what planet he came from to have such a stupid moniker. 

So, welcome to Grimsby, Sonny Finch. Someone on The Fishy wrote that he 'should link up with Green' which I thought was funny. If he had a brother called Atticus that would kill two birds with one stone. What? No, that one didn't quite work. Move on. Leave it there, festering.

Interesting season so far. We look tight, we look well organised. We look ferocious in the tackle and difficult to break down. We don't look as though we are going to score many. Oh dear. Still, it's August and the season ends next May. There's a few things that can happen in that time, from complete collapse, to ascendance to a higher footballing plane. 'Tis the nature of the sport that, as long as we are picking up points, nothing is questioned, but as soon as we lose one all the doubts, the surly fan wisdom and the malcontents will come bubbling to the surface of social media. I know about the latter because I'm one of them. So let's make a point of enjoying the next couple of days before unexpectedly strong starters Fleetwood sail into Town.

On a non-Town theme, can we hear it for Austrian nobodies Lask who were 4-0 down on aggregate in the 21st minute of their Champions League second leg against Celtic and ended up winning 5-4. Certainly a big ask, for Lask, but they were up to the task. Nothing frustrates me more watching a Town team who have obviously given up if they go 2-0 down in the seventieth minute or something similar. Fight to the end please, boys. That's all we can ask. Or lask. Thankfully there's been less of that lately but it has happened in recent years. Go on, deny it. I'll fight you if necessary. 

Mostly, Scottish football fans are filled with glee at this result, with the main point being made that Celtic don't do very well in the Champions League because they haven't got the tame refs they employ in their home league. I couldn't possibly comment on such scurrilous social media gossip. Indeed, I find it outrageous. Hehe. 

So, two diarists before the arrival of the Wooden Fleet and I'm sure they will manage to convey all the pre-match excitement and news to our reader, which I have evidently failed to do. That's Wednesdays for ya. Up the Marineeeeeeers!