Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 9 February 2005

9 February 2005

...well, I said to her, it might be a slow news day but you should see the size of my bookmarks folder! Oh, hello there. All that has awaited us this chilly Wednesday is a sorry solitary revelation unlikely to dislodge major planets from their orbits: that Town's eventual new trial forward Richard Pacquette has given an interview to the Grimsby Telegraph in which he enthuses wildly about getting back into League football in a bid to convince world-weary Mariners fans that he is capable of becoming more than just the English Mickael Antoine-Curier. Turns out, as well, young Rich is mates with Terrell Forbes and Simon Ford. Cor, remember him? Promising and pacy young central defender brought up to Blundell Park from down south, quickly raised expectations with a string of excellent performances and then just as quickly failed to live up to them by spending most of each game asleep. But enough about Terrell Forbes, eh.

It might be because they're having a good run in a couple of cups, or it might just be because the GTFC accounts department is increasingly desperate for the new John Oster to pop up from behind a dandelion, but at the moment people seem to be more than usually interested in Town's youth team. A good thing, then, that the club's official website is on hand to give us the lowdown on their season in the Football League Youth Rebel Alliance, as it isn't called. First of all, all the youth teams play in a 'Conference phase', apparently, and then at this time of year they get sorted out into 'Merit Divisions' according to how well they've done, and the Mariners' bright young things, it emerges, are in Merit Division Two North. As league structures go it all seems a bit complicated for the Diary, but I'm sure the Scottish Football Association will give it a try for a year at some point.