Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 18 March 2003

18 March 2003

Paul Groves, upon whose decisions depend the happiness of more than one life, has no new injury worries ahead of tonight's visit to Rotherham - other than Alan Pouton, who begins a four-match suspension anyway. Stacy Coldicott has resumed training and returns to the squad following his recent absence with a groin strain or something, but Groves will feel under pressure to keep playing in midfield after his big goalscoring contribution to recent fixtures. Rotherham, meanwhile, are wrestling with doubts over several players, including influential midfielders Darren Garner and Andy Monkhouse, but Chris Swailes and Darren Byfield return from one-match suspensions.

Over to schadenfreude corner now, and former England midfielder Lee Sharpe - who spent an intriguingly brief period on trial with the Mariners in 2002 - has signed for Icelandic part-timers Grindavik. With their 1,000-capacity stadium, it is thought unlikely that Sharpe's new club will be in a position to pay him £4,000 for playing in a friendly, as the player was rumoured to have demanded from Town last summer.

Diary Poetry Week continues apace today with another contribution from Alistair Wilkinson, whose Miltonic account of Town's weekend win over Watford started the lyrical ball rolling yesterday. Al's new piece, entitled 'Why am I a Town fan?', deals movingly with those moments of doubt when you wonder why you bother at all (the Diary is reminded of the dearth of cheese and onion pasties at Vale Park in 1999), so please read it by clicking here. Marnix Kolder, meanwhile, has submitted an ingenious satirical piece of fixed-form verse that will make eminent sense to every Diary reader; find out by clicking here. Should the fair works of these two bards move you to metre, then pray email your odes to codalmightydiary@yahoo.co.uk.