Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 15 April 2005

15 April 2005

Unless you have the good fortune to be appointed the new Pope, it isn't every day you get someone famous at your house for dinner. Durham Diary was therefore very excited to learn that famous impersonator Steve Meek and his wife will be coming for lunch tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm likely to miss the encounter as I will be doing my utmost to make Grimsby Town lose. No, I haven't signed on a cheeky one for Notts County; I've given up on football for this season and will be embracing the new cricket season from tomorrow.

"SESTANTHEMANOVICH", proclaimed the shirt of the spotty kid who sat behind Durham Diary at the abandoned Rochdale game on New Year's Day. "Not so," retort Grimsby Town, Sheffield United and now Chester City who have all terminated contracts with Ashley this season, the latter yesterday for "non-football related serious Misdemeanours". None of the OS, or Chester's OS, BBC Grimsby, BBC Chester, the Grimsby Telegraph, or in fact anyone except www.chester-city.co.uk are running the story so it must be true, and Durham Diary heard it in the pub yesterday anyway.

One thing the OS is running is an intriguingly boring interview with Mike Edwards. The former Hull man who looked really rather useful but a bit slow in the Mariners' defence last season is currently playing for tomorrow's opponents Notts County - or not playing, as it turns out, Edwards having missed most of the season with cruciate knee ligament hurty things. "It's touch and go if I'll get another game in this season," reckons Mike. "It might just be a case of getting it right for pre-season." Yeah, we know that feeling. Perhaps the most interesting line of the article reads: "Mike's prediction for Saturday: 2-0 to County." There again, perhaps not.

In team news for the match, Town could welcome back Michael Reddy. Town have failed to score in the three games Reddy's missed with a different knee problem to Edwards', but equally they've failed to score in plenty of games he has played in, so don't read too much into it. Graham 'I'm not a puppet, I'm a real boy' Hockless may miss the game after banging his ankle in the Rushden 'game'. Tony Crane scored against Scunny in the reserves, and Ronnie Bull is fit again, but Slade looks likely to stick with the same back line that played against Wycombe, reckons the Grimsby Telegraph. Bull and Crane have played their last for Town and won't be here next season, reckons everyone else.

And the Grimsby Telegraph website has just started running the Sestanovich story.

Enough is enough, as they say. If you're going to Nottingham tomorrow have a nice day. Maybe you could even stop over and watch Nottinghamshire versus Middlesex at Trent Bridge on Sunday. It would be most pleasant to watch some competitive sport for a change.