Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 2 April 2003

2 April 2003

Michael Keane returns from Ireland under-21 duty to find himself in line for a GTFC debut at Leicester following a training injury to fellow loan midfielder Richard Hughes. Hughes went over on his ankle the other day after taking on one cone too many and so the Preston man, fresh from not playing for his country in Albania, stands by for action at the Bag of Crisps Stadium this Saturday. The Portsmouth man joins Alan Pouton, Stacy Coldicott, Darren Barnard and John McDermott swapping holiday brochures in the treatment room.

Club officials have sat down with their counterparts from the Grimsby Telegraph in a bid to settle their differences over a nice cup of tea and a posh sandwich from outside caterers. The GTFC hierarchy, like the Diary, was less than happy with the newspaper's dubious coverage last week of Town's failure to sign John Oster on a permanent basis; but the two parties have been very grown-up about it all and decided that the best way to live together in peace is to talk, not fight. Town's official site carries a 'joint statement', which is not an utterance by John Walker but a mutual declaration that "GTFC and the Telegraph both want to see a successful conclusion to the season and will continue to work together to that end." Are you watching, Tony Blair?

Fans of forward-line complacency will be excited by the official site's headline Jevons Back At BP?, but the story turns out to trail only the prospect of the sluggish scouse striker playing for Hull reserves this afternoon against his erstwhile Grimsby colleagues. No news is yet available regarding the participation of trialists, probably because it's a bit late in the season to be signing anyone now.