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Diary - Monday 27 January 2003

27 January 2003

A furious Steve Livingstone is to appeal against the red card he received in the weekend's defeat against Bradford, reports BBC Humber Sport. "There was no way I should have been sent off," argues the lumbering striker, dismissed on Saturday for swinging an arm at Robert Molenaar, who responded by impersonating a large bag of starchy root vegetables. The player goes further in today's Grimsby Telegraph, declaring himself "cheated" and "disgusted" with the Bradford defender. Livvo claimed in a Radio Humberside interview before the match that he won't be able to concentrate fully on his game until the club offers him a new deal. In fact it was probably only the uncertainty and frustration stemming from the impending expiry of his contract that made him whack Molenaar. Hey, if you're reading, Steve, you can quote that to the FA.

For his part, Paul Groves is paying tribute to Arsene again rather than give immediate backing to Livvo over the red-card incident. The taciturn Town top man tells today's Telegraph: "There was somebody in the way. I'll have to view the video...well, actually I think the video's broken, so I can't...erm...ooh, look - a Porsche!"

Ricky Allaway may sound like the next winner of Pop Idol, but he is actually a six-foot-two defender and twin brother of Town's on-loan keeper Shaun Allaway, and is also on trial at Blundell Park this week, being no longer in the employ of Reading FC. Sharing the spotlight with Ricky tonight, ladies and gentlemen, would you please give a warm welcome to Arnaud le Francois, a foreign gentleman! A 20-year-old centre-half, le Francois has appeared for Caen, Rennes and Sedan in the French league. Oh, and there's another Aussie player there as well. Oooh, and three promising 16-year-olds from Halifax Town. Which is very nice of Halifax Town, isn't it.

The recently formed Grimsby Town Supporters Trust has announced an agreement to do stuff with the club, following discussions with Town directors and chairman Peter Furneaux. "We look forward to the official formation of the Grimsby Town Supporters Trust," says Mr F, "and will certainly be interested to hold further discussions in the future." The trust is to be launched officially on 9 March.

John Oster's mercurial run of form while on loan with Town in November and December has earned him a recall to Mark Hughes' latest Wales squad. Rah! The little fella is joined in the party for the principality's home friendly against Bosnia on 12 February by his loan teammates Danny Coyne and the nouveau-good Darren Barnard.

And finally, the Diary would like to say thank you to its girlfriend for the yummy vegetable lasagne eaten during the writing of today's Diary. It's true - Italians do do it better.