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Diary - Monday 20 September 2004

20 September 2004

Dean Gordon, who earned Tony Butcher's man-of-the-match award for his stout performance in Town's 2-0 win over Leyton Orient on Saturday, has denied reports that the club has offered him a longer contract. The former Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace defender has been consistently bloody excellent since joining the Mariners on a short-term deal one week into the season, but has told Radio Humberside that no extended terms have been placed anywhere near his table: "I came here on a week-to-week contract. Since I've been here I've quite enjoyed the time," enthuses the player. "I read in the press two or three weeks ago that they were gonna offer me a longer deal but nothing's happened so far." Gordon goes on to explain that he has a son in Middlesbrough, but the interview fails to clarify whether this means he's happier to be playing for Town than he was for Coventry, or whether he's angling for Darlo to come in and steal him back to the north-east proper. Either way, the Diary urges Mr Fenty to run out a new contract for Deano on the fastest laser printer he can lay his five-star mitts on.

Gordon's interview is one of two GTFC exclusives aired by Radio Humberside this morning (neither of which, alas, have thus far made it on to the BBC Humber Sport website), the other being that Russell Slade's long-awaited target man could turn out to be the 93-year-old former Chesterfield, Oldham, Preston, Carlisle, Notts County, Bolton, Burnley, Scunthorpe, Heswell and Sheffield Wednesday player David Reeves. Hull FM reports that Noddy originally made a move for the player in the summer only to see him join Northern Ireland club Ards, but they're paying him more than a club can afford in a place where all but three of the population support Celtic and Rangers, and the 112-year-old striker could now be headed for BP. For what it's worth, the story has made it to the have-their-cake-and-eat-it 'rumours' section of Town's official website. "If he doesn't score we can always take him to Antiques Roadshow!" Slade might say, if anyone asks him.

A little look back at the weekend reveals a second goal for Darren Mansaram in the third game of his loan to Halifax; the only one of the match, in fact, as the Shaymen took all three points from their odyssey south to Canvey Island. Phil Jevons, who Town fans voted player of the year last season for the half-dozen or so games in which he summoned up the effort to exceed walking pace, became the fourth division's leading scorer thanks to his hat-trick in Yeovil's 6-1 trouncing of Oxford. Let's see how arsed he can be if the Glovers start losing... and the Diary takes its electronic hat off to Bristol Rovers boss Ian Atkins for having the astonishing cheek to accuse Lincoln of being a long-ball side: very much a case, you will agree, of the dour, ugly Brummie bastard kettle calling the pot black.

After last week's discussion of crazy Australian names (and don't we all just know there's absolutely no way on Earth that John Tambourine will ever be awarded a contract at BP, so why don't they just give up now), Mark Wilson has emailed the Diary to suggest that the club look for another Danny Invincible. "Is there any chance that Town will take an Australian triallist on who's called Bruce Fortygoalsaseason?" he asks. "Yeah, I thought not." Although with Tony Crane, Rob Jones, Simon Ramsden, Glen Downey, Terrell Forbes and possibly Justin Whittle unavailable for tomorrow night's big League Cup game against Charlton, the Mariners' antipodean scouting network might be better advised to check out Shane Centrebackwhonevergetsinjuredorcuptied.

Finally today, there may be a few GTFC messageboards out there, but not all of them let you swear, discuss the Ramones or lavish extensive praise upon the Diary, and so it is with some excitement that I recommend to you A Grim Outlook, an enjoyable new board set up to allow Town fans to talk about all things Town-related and all things not. It doesn't even ask for your inside leg measurement when you register, and you can't really wish for much more than that.