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Diary - Thursday 21 November 2002

21 November 2002

Remember our cuddly chum Georges Santos? Town boss Paul Groves is in last-ditch talks with the enthusiastic midfielder today in a bid to sign him for the rest of the season, and quite understandably wants the whole thing sorted out either way. Big Georges has spoken fondly of Grimsby from his current base in the south of France, but negotiations have so far foundered on the simple fact that he wants more money than Town want to pay him.

One player who will be with Town until next summer is goalkeeper Shaun Allaway. The England under-20 international joined the Mariners on an initial three-month loan to cover for the absence of Steve 'The Kitten' Croudson but has now signed up for the rest of this campaign.

Groves speaks warmly today of Jamie Pollock, who has called time on his efforts to resume his footballing career at Blundell Park and retired from the game. "During his spell here his attitude was exemplary," says Groves. "He worked hard to try and get fit and was a big influence on the younger players...who learnt a lot from his enthusiasm for the game and his determination." The former Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Bolton and Middlesbrough midfielder had been playing with Town reserves for several weeks but hangs up his boots at the age of just 28.

Town have confirmed that Simon Ford will receive only a one-match ban for his sending-off against Preston last weekend. The whole of North-East Lincolnshire was quaking in its waders at the possibility that the ace young defender would miss three games, but Ford will sit out only the Leicester match on Saturday week. The club is not appealing. I mean Grimsby Town FC are not to contest the suspension; not that Pier 39 is a really bad place to be. That's for you to decide.

Record appearance holder, club captain and saviour of mankind John McDermott is back in training, reports the Grimsby Telegraph, and is looking to play for Town for the 600th time this Saturday when the Mariners visit Crystal Palace. Godspeed, Macca.

Nationwide League chairmen are to meet today to discuss the introduction of a salary cap from next season to stop people like Geoffrey Richmond running clubs into the ground. After the adoption of a similar measure by the elite G14 group of boring fat moneybags European clubs, a proposal is in place that the total wages of playing staff should not be permitted to exceed 60 per cent of a club's turnover. Were the cap to be adopted, it is not yet known whether the GTFC board would still be blamed for everything from Kabba going to Sheffield to the firefighters going on strike.

After whipping up a whirlwind of criticism for its recent coverage of the nascent Grimsby Town Supporters Trust, the Diary would like to make clear its best wishes for GTST in helping the club and generally doing the trust thing, and everything. We think it's brilliant. It's just that the Diary likes to approach life with a touch of frivolity; well, there's plenty of seriousness in the world already, don't you think? We intended no slight upon GTST nor its organisers and regret that the Diary's playfulness has been variously misconstrued as sarcasm, sniping, contempt and whatnot. It really isn't.