Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 28 February 2003

28 February 2003

Hello, I'm Andy Holt. You may remember me from other Cod Almighty articles such as 'Out of Africa' and '180 minutes of fame'. With the regular Diary off gallavanting today in the wilds of the Land of No Internet I've been asked to step into the breach. Be nice to me, I'm new at this.

With tomorrow's match against Coventry looming large on the horizon all eyes are on Mr Groves for any indication of a likely starting XI. Not much news seems to be eminating from BP however, although it seems likely that Pouton will return after injury - again. Whether he'll last longer this time without breaking again remains to be seen. Let's hope so - we'll need his dynamic style when Warnock's bullyboys visit on Tuesday evening. But back to tomorrow, Mansaram is back from his camping/cloning trip to Lilleshall and may figure, and the Livvosaurus is back from his suspension. Which is a shame. Everyone at Cod Almighty Towers has their fingers, toes, eyes and purposes crossed that the manager has seen the light in the absence of the monolith.

And speaking of the manager, it's his 37th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Paul. Here's hoping the team present you with 3 points tomorrow in lieu of a pressie. Another three on Tuesday would be nice too, mind. Rumours abound that senility is setting in early however. Other than persisting in picking Livvo, an interview on BBC Humberside reveals that Mr Groves is somewhat confused. You have to stop who? In the same article John 'speaks the obvious' Oster makes it clear that Town need to get some points from the next two matches.

It has come to the caretaker-Diary's attention that Groves' goal on Saturday was Grimsby Town football club's 6000th league goal. The OS quickly points out that this is including the expunging from the records of the two goals Town scored in the 1939/40 season which was cut short by the actions of a short Austrian.

In a bid to get him some valuable first team experience, Jonny Rowan's name has been circulated to all other league clubs. The aim is for him to go on loan and practise scoring, I think. Rumours that it's an infiltration technique in use by an agent of the men in dark sunglasses who have been seen in the vicinity of the reserve team squad are feared to be untrue.

Oh, and the Wolves match on March 29th might be off. Something to do with international call-ups or something. The stand-in Diary is not amused by this news as he intended to be in Grimsby to attend that match. But it all still depends on who is picked in national squads, of course.

In other news, Hull have signed another striker! Peter Taylor's ideal formation of 0-0-10 is well on track after capturing 19 year old Jonathan Walters on a month's loan from Bolton. With no professional goals to his name he'll fit right in at the Kingston Communication Stadium.