Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 20 June 2003

20 June 2003

A press release from Premium TV - owners of all the official sites in the universe - boasts that yesterday "3.6 million fans from across the globe attempted to log on between 10am and 11am", to get the new fixtures. The strain of over 60,000 people hitting them every minute almost broke their server, apparently. Similarly, the Diary was so popular at lunchtime yesterday, that he pulled a groin muscle under the effort of over seventeen people trying to read him at once. Consequently, your diarist for today is me, Miles Moss again. Hello! Actually, the real reason for Mr Diary being unavailable is something to do with the appearance outside his living room window of several burly builders' arsecracks (that's the builders who are burly, not the arsecracks). In between mandatory frequent tea breaks, owners of said butt cleavages whipped out some noisy machinery and proceeded to rip out the Diary's phone lines. Normal service should be resumed as soon as possible, but in the meantime, please bear with me.

So, what exactly hasn't been happening then? Starting on a snippet of pure speculation, the rumours are that every Grimbarian's favourite Cape Verdean, Georges Santos, is back in town. He was allegedly spotted sneaking into Blundell Park earlier this week, and last night reportedly made his second trip to a local gymnasium, where he pounded the machinery while wearing a Grimsby Town strip, holding a signed contract in one hand, and shouting "I've just signed up for the Mariners again, me!". Well, OK, not the last bits. Conclusion-leapers will be assuming that these sightings are a precursor to a new contract being signed, but of course he might just be on holiday in Cleethorpes. Well, the south of France isn't much cop at this time of year, is it.

Meanwhile, a bloke who actually has signed for Town - namely Marcel Cas - has a signed shirt up for auction on the official site today. "Fucking hell!" exclaims Cod Almighty puntmeister Mat Hare, "They aren't wasting any time are they? When he signed his contract was there a bit of carbon paper between it and a shirt?" he asks, rhetorically. I can add no more to that. Except to say that season tickets have been selling like hot cakes since Cassa and Macca signed, the GT's virtual back page tells us, with 20,000 quid taken in a two-day period this week. So far a total of about 450 season tickets have been sold.

The Coyne saga continues, too, with Peter Furneaux warning Danny Boyo that he may not be first choice keeper if he fails to get a place at one of those other teams he's come out of the closet about recently. "We only want players whose heart is in the club.", says Mr F., going on to state that all the transfer speculation is down to Coyne himself, and Town are not trying to get rid of him at all. Ooh crikey.

Finally, the Cod Almighty team are big fans of fan power, and pleasing news comes from Gillingham today. No doubt you're aware of the recent storm which erupted when it was proposed that the club change their traditional blue strip - which they have worn for over sixty years - for an all white affair. Sponsors Sea France were thought to be behind the plot to match the team's strip with their corporate colours, and consequently received faxes and letters threatening a boycott of their services. Despite personally preferring the proposed white strip, chairman Paul Scally has now confirmed that the Gills will play in blue next season. Corporate power nil, fan power one. Go on!