Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Sunday 13 July 2003
13 July 2003
As one who considers the early symptoms of skin cancer - commonly referred to as a 'suntan' - singularly unattractive, the Diary has mostly been staying indoors this weekend drinking coffee and listening to My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything; The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds; Barcelona's Simon BASIC; a load of stuff by Shampoo, who were the very definition of pop, God bless them; and the first Spiritualized album, whatever the hell it's called, before they went all prog rock. And reading the paper. I recommend this to you all.
The wild winds of change that have lately whipped through Blundell Park have slackened off a little this weekend, and the key item of news from Town's official website is indeed that nothing is happening; but specifically that nothing is happening with Georges Santos. The Frenchman of substance is training with the youth team - as a truly appalling photograph purports to illustrate - pending his agreement to a new contract with the Mariners or in fact elsewhere, as the player claims for the first time that several other clubs are poised to make him very attractive nibbles. "Georges and ourselves are some way apart when it comes to figures," confirms Paul Groves, and he isn't talking waistlines.
Another truly appalling photograph on the official site is of Neil Woods with his eyes shut and looking a dead ringer for my uncle Derek. The snap illustrated a short item earlier this week about Town's youth side playing Horncastle Town in something called the Vickers Cup, and a conveniently placed Diary reader who attended the match on Friday evening has emailed with the observation that Joe Lightowler displays "distinctly Ashcroftian tendencies". The hotly tipped young forward opened the scoring in the kids' 3-0 win after showing some glorious touches and went off with cramp after 40 minutes, as he's been doing all season, according to his dad. Our man on the spot also found kind words for goalkeeper Paul Fraser, striker Liam Nimmo and the Town centre-back pairing (names unknown). "There were quite a few OK players out there. For their age," concludes our reporter - high praise indeed by his standards. "Perhaps one or two may be worth trying in reserve team football at the moment." You heard it here first. Possibly.
The Diary also receives word from Hertfordshire's prophet of gloom Mark Wilson, but this time the lad wants to exhume some of the seeds of misery he has planted recently. "Having done a hatchet job on at least one of our new signings this season I hope to put matters right by coming to praise Des Hamilton," he writes. "A Bradford supporter of my acquaintance congratulated me on our signing of Des Hamilton. Apparently Des was a demi-god at Bradford, scoring goals, tackling hard and running forever. Bradford supporters are baffled with his subsequent disappearance from the football radar. He thinks he will do a great job for us in the second division." Thanking you kindly, Mark. Much would seem to depend upon whether Disco Des (I do love that nickname) plays in central midfield or out wide, as it seems to have been in the middle that he thrived at Valley Parade and on the right that he struggled at Newcastle. See also: Pouton, Alan.
Over in Lancashire expectations are being inflated by the outcome of the first pre-season workout for Alan Buckley's Rochdale. In a friendly at Radcliffe Borough this weekend the side belied the shot-shy nature of their manager's former Grimsby charges and ran out victorious by the eyebrow-raising margin of nine goals to nil. "The result, though it's nice to win, has no bearing in my mind," comments the ever-excitable manager.