Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 14 October 2004

14 October 2004

Notwithstanding the presence of Birmingham-born Monserrat international Wayne Dyer, Town's reserves got done 4-2 at Donny yesterday, conceding twice early on and hauling it back to two apiece with goals from Ronnie Bull and some kid called Smith, only to cave in to two late strikes from the home side. Incidentally, the Diary has learned since compiling yesterday's column that Monserrat are bottom of FIFA's world ranking system; and yeah, I know this is the same FIFA world ranking system that reckons not only that the USA are loads better than Holland but also that we should all be very scared of meeting Mexico in a dark alley, but Dyer apparently played in a recent two-legged World Cup qualifier against Bermuda, which his side lost 20-0 on aggregate. Still, it's all good preparation for the possibility of another Hartlepool.

The Diary watched that poor excuse for an England game last night with a bunch of Premiership fans: Tottenham, Newcastle, Blackburn and Everton supporters, to be exact. Everton fan asked me who Town's best player was this season. I pondered for a bit before offering the name of Dean Gordon. And the Premiership fans, right, had like heard of him and everything! The unusual situation of Town having signed some players who are any good is pretty much all down to that nice Mr Russell Slade, isn't it, and such is the awe in which our manager is held by new striker Colin Cramb that the player has taken out a full-page advertisement in today's New York Times to say: that Slade is (a) "a man I respect"; and (b) a "breath of fresh air"; adding that (c) GTFC are "a big club" (this is just getting weird now) and that he is (d) "excited about the prospect of playing" for us; and (e) "looking to do the business for Grimsby." OK, it wasn't the New York Times. I don't know what it was. I just found it on the Sporting Life website.

If you know the Diary, you know I'm not the kinda guy that would normally give rugby league the time of day. Seeing as it's another quiet day, though, and seeing as he's my mate and everything, and I feel sorry for him because he lives in Leeds, Simon Wilson has emailed to ask if any Diary readers can suggest a pub in Horncastle that will have its telly tuned to something called the rugby league "grand final" on Saturday night. Know you of such a place? Email diary@codalmighty.com if you do. I don't know whether we shouldn't be encouraging him, really, but some people are beyond help.

That's me done for the week then, but don't forget to tune in at the same time tomorrow for, er, I think it's Special Guest Diary who's doing it on Fridays again now. But for now, keep your nose clean, keep your trousers down, and I'll see you in the Rutland in 48 hours.