Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 7 August 2003

7 August 2003

Jason Crowe and Mike Edwards will sign for the Mariners today, according to the club's official site, to become the sixth and seventh new faces to join this summer. I think it's sixth and seventh anyway, unless I've forgotten somebody; which wouldn't be hard. In scoring the winning goal against Middlesbrough last Friday Crowe clearly impressed Paul Groves more than he did Tony Butcher and the player is set to make his debut at Plymouth on Saturday as stand-in for the injured John McDermott. The two-year contract wafting under Crowe's nose is precisely double the length of that being flashed at Mr Edwards, expectations of whom are being played down by the OS's speculation that he "could be more of a fringe player"; not that this reputation ever did A Flock Of Seagulls any harm.

But you all want to know about Laurens Ten Heuvel, and quite frankly, so do I. Negotiations with the Sheffield United frontman appear to be at a less advanced stage - more a tadpole to Crowe and Edwards' frog - with Groves telling today's Grimsby Telegraph: "We're talking about the money and we're in the middle of negotiations. I think we'll know a bit more today as to when, or if, it will be wrapped up." Town's official site, meanwhile, reminds us significantly that "the Town boss has until 12 noon on Saturday to sign a loan player". Indeed, a temporary contract for the skilful Dutchman would be better than none at all; but it would leave open, as always, the possibility of Neil Warnock wondering aloud to his scouts whether this Ten Heuvel fella at Grimsby might be worth snapping up quick.

Back at the office, the GTFC accounts people have their fingers crossed that season ticket sales will top £400,000 before the week is out. Sales are 600 down on last season's figure of 2,900, reports the Telegraph; but after the club's relegation a sharper drop had been anticipated by the Blundell Park moneymen. If that isn't a contradiction in terms.

The children and dreamers of North East Lincs will have allowed their foolish hopes to be raised by a transfer request from Andy Todd. A series of excellent performances from the Blackburn centre-half during his loan from Charlton helped the Mariners fight off the drop in the 2001-02 season, and the player has now given up on fighting for a first-team spot at Ewood Park. Whether he has also given up on fighting is unclear. No-one who was in the vicinity of the Molineux stadium on 16 March 2002 will forget Todd's winning goal for Town - which saw the beginning of the end of Wolves' promotion bid and swiftly curtailed the home chants of "Will you watch us on TV?" - but anyone now entertaining the notion that an unrefusable offer would fall within Grimsby spending power must be, to put it bluntly, a right daft bugger.

Finally, Mark Wilson valiantly attempts to keep alive the Grimsby/Kinks thread that has kept us all so richly entertained this week. "Could 'So Tired of Waiting for You' [sic.] have been penned for Clyde Wijnhard?" he asks. Kind of the same gag I did with Clive Platt the other day, but hey, none the worse for that.