Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 1 September 2004

1 September 2004

If you supported a football team with a player called Paul Robinson, and he was playing really well, you might be tempted to sing: "There's only one Paul Robinson!" You would be best advised to resist said temptation, however, on the grounds that, for one thing, it doesn't scan, and for another that there are in fact loads of Paul Robinsons, several of whom make their livings as professional footballers. One of these is a 20-year-old six-foot striker with Tranmere Rovers; he is on his way to Grimsby for a trial and may take some part in this afternoon's reserve game at Scunny. The club's official website has run its copy through the spellchecker this morning, but it hasn't helped: "Town will not be perusing their interest in Bermudan striker John Nusam," it reports, which makes even the Diary feel too sad to be able to think of a casually spiteful joke. The Grimsby Telegraph manages to squeeze more than the first two sentences of the story onto the relevant webpage, though, which is nice.

In the words of the well-known ancient Chinese proverb, these are interesting times if you're a former Grimsby Town goalkeeper. Paul Crichton, one of the players who helped the Mariners siphon nearly a million quid out of West Brom's bank account by following Alan Buckley between Blundell Park and the Hawthorns in the 1990s, like one of the iron pots and pans in that episode of The Flumps where Pootle had a magnet in his pocket, has been keeping goal for York in the Conference this season after his release by Norwich at the end of last - but may not be doing so for very much longer. The ageing custodian has been suspended by his club following the team's recent 4-0 defeat at Gravesend, where it is alleged that he told supporters he didn't care about the results as long as he was being paid - as if he were a GTFC player in the 2002-03 season. Critie has launched a stout defence of himself, telling the press: "I could have signed for Sheffield United or Kilmarnock for four times the money and just sat there picking up my wage." Sounds like you should have, Paul.

Happier news from a second ex-Mariners keeper, Steve Croudson, who has found a home in Stevenage Borough, eight places above York in the Conference table. The 23-year-old Grimsby lad was released by Boston at the end of last season and joins his new club as cover for first-choice stopper Andy Woodman (who kept goal for Northampton in their 1998 Division Two play-off final against Town, fact fans). Maybe if the Kitten gets a game and Paul Ketchley doesn't have a GTFC match nearby, he can nip up the road to Broadhall Way and see how our boy's getting on.