Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 9 October 2003

9 October 2003

Today's Diary is 100 per cent behind the England players' protest against the withdrawal of Rio Ferdinand from the squad to face Turkey this Saturday, because they have just been condemned for it by Sepp Blatter.

The Mariners will be facing a side without a manager this weekend, as Brighton's Steve Coppell has just walked out on the club that resurrected his career, probably out of justified fear that a defeat by Grimsby - the third worst supported side in Division Two, remember! - would have earned him the sack anyway. Coppell - who has also enjoyed 32 separate spells in charge of Crystal Palace - has been lured away from the south coast by the bright lights of first division Reading, to replace Alan Pardew, who in turn was wooed away from the Berkshire football hotbed by the even brighter lights of, er, first division West Ham. If I were being paid to write this then I would probably have to use the word 'merry-go-round', but I'm not so I won't.

Staying for the moment on the subject of me, the Diary spent all afternoon yesterday working, and is knackered today. So let's hope such higher forms of life as Iain Anderson aren't bound by the same laws of nature, as Town's ace scorey wingy bloke came through 75 minutes for the reserves against Scunthorpe yesterday. The second string continued their unbeaten start to the season thanks to David Soames, who equalised Paul Hayes' early strike for the Iron - the front page of whose official site, interestingly, carries no fewer than four stories about the match. Do you think it means a lot to them to play Grimsby, or have they just got nothing better to do?

"In Wednesday 8th October diary," writes Mat Winn in an email, "you say 'despite Boulding himself having publicly attributed his development to the management of Paul Groves' yet I've read on numerous occasions that quick Mick does in fact say that the greatest influence on his goal scoring career was indeed Paul Wilkinson! Who's wrong? Me or you? Wanna bet on it?" Dunno, Mat, but I expect you can get odds on it from Mariners Bet, which incidentally also offers a free bet in running on all televised matches this weekend from kick-off until the 80th minute to the same value as a bet placed on the England-Turkey game up to a maximum of £25 (or $40) and subject to terms and conditions!