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Diary - Thursday 11 November 2004

11 November 2004

Darren Mansaram's rapid transformation from official fan scapegoat to official stick to beat manager with (see also: Cooke, T; Jevons, P; Hockless, G) is set to be completed now that Halifax Town appear to have given up trying to sign the player on a permanent basis. After two successful months on loan at the Shay, the player this week became the subject of a cash bid from Fax manager Chris Wilder, which was waved contemptuously aside by our nouveau-riche Mariners, and the West Yorkshire side are now set to sign Leigh RMI's Alex Meechan instead. Now that Jon Daly is back at Stockport, observers can expect severe heckling from the unreserved seating if Dazmaz is left out of the side to face Kidderminster on Saturday week. Even if he's still got that back injury.

Contrasting fortunes, as they say, for GTFC's youth and reserve sides yesterday. The seconds were defeated 2-1 by Darlington at Blundell Park, with much-touted Hinckley United trialist Wayne Dyer, unsurprisingly, nowhere in sight, although the Mariners' 16 included some excellent names in Capper, Downie, Chuck, Powell Liam, Bunce, Hikey and Call. I'm assuming for now that these are real players and not greyed-out ones that are invented by the computer in Chammy Manager, and by lucky hap the Grimsby Telegraph is on hand to inform us that "Powell Liam", or Liam Powell, as he is known to friends and family, is a former Leicester defender and Stephen Capper plays for - oh, surprise! - Scarborough. Giovanni Carchedi, heartwarmingly, scored Town's goal on his return from a horrible year-long injury nightmare hell torment spiky grrrrr ow!

The young 'uns, meanwhile, advanced to a second-round FA Youth Cup tie with Bury after winning 2-1 at Hednesford Town with goals from Paul Ashton and a lad called Peter Bore. Good on 'em. Youths See Of Hednesford, proclaims Town's official website jubilantly. There's a missing word there, and I hope it isn't 'willies'.

Other than the fact that results and league positions seem to have no dependency whatsoever upon whether teams are actually any good, one of the strangest phenomena about the fourth division is the way people keep saying Grimsby are a big club - and the Mariners' new-found massiveness doesn't end with league games. The decision by those city slickers at Blundell Park to fly in a jetplane down to Saturday's FA Cup tie at Exeter has struck awe into those old-fashioned yokels down in the West Country, to such an extent that the local Express and Echo newspaper has dedicated some of a news story to the subject. What's that? The Telegr... oh. Yeah. Ahem.

All good things come to an end, then, and this is it. The end. Or not quite, for that may be it from your regular Diary for another week, but tune in again tomorrow for your regular Friday round-up from Special Guest Diary, or Miles Moss, or whoever ends up doing it. Toodles!