Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 14 January 2004

14 January 2004

Dutch man Marcel Cas is flying back to Holland after a bust-up with Paul Groves and will have the remaining 18 months of his contract cancelled. Two or three goals and a string of excellent performances on the right wing early this season were not enough to see the player restored to the starting line-up after a nasty knee injury sidelined him for a month in the autumn, and Cas's feeble appearance as a substitute against Plymouth will be his last in a Mariners shirt. Clearly in need of a new focal point for supporter disenchantment now that Phil Jevons is back in the team, the Grimsby Telegraph reports the departure of its star columnist by promoting him to the status of "fans' hero". "I played 10 games awesome and I didn't get any credit for that," argues the thoroughly disillusioned Netherlander. "The manager didn't like me and I don't like him." No quote appears to have been taken from Groves, though to be fair to the Telegraph he isn't as articulate as Cas. Bloody shame all round really, but Town could be in the market for a new player with the wages freed up.

A pat on the back is due to Town's reserves, who completed a league double over Newcastle's at Blundell Park yesterday, courtesy of a late winner from Forgotten Striker Jonny Rowan shortly after the visitors had equalised an impressive first-half strike by David Soames. If you are in hip-hip-hoorah mode then you may make play of the fact that the away side fielded overpriced crock Carl Cort and alleged future England captain Michael Chopra up front, but the Diary has a horrible stinky cold and is scarcely able to get tremendously enthusiastic about anything today. On a more mournful note befitted to my state of incapacity, the Magpies line-up also included Steven Taylor, who turned out for Wycombe 11 days ago in the Mariners' all-but-forgotten 4-1 humiliation at Adams Park, or the Causeway Stadium, or whatever the damn place is called.

Young Master Rowan could become remembered again sooner than any of us thought, as a phalanx of injury victims huddle in the BP treatment room in the run-up to this Saturday's visit to Port Vale. BBC Humber today quotes Slugger Groves' rundown thereof, to the effect that Darren Mansaram and Alan Pouton have got poorly backs, Aidan Davison and Stu Campbell hurty knees and Darren Barnard a lame calf. The Mariners supremo further reveals that Davison has been carrying said affliction for two or three weeks, during which time he has failed to train, prompting the Diary to wonder whether he would have been withdrawn and treated had Town's number two keeper Andy Pettinger - who has been out of action with a broken hand, I think it was - been available to replace him. Ah well.

Right - it's another Jack Daniels and Lemsip for me. See you tomorrow.