Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 20 May 2005

20 May 2005

Your Guest Diarist has taken to waking up too early. Far too early. So two or three hours are spent every morning in silent rumination. One recurring topic is from where the comedy value in next season's team will be drawn. With that in mind, gentle reader, I secretly yearn for Town to sign Kevin Pressman. Williams has been too sad and the mistakes he makes just aren't funny. Give me an old roly-poly keeper in a big jumper any day. And as for Mr Slade's penchant for trying to convert big lumpy centre-halves into fast, nimble wing-backs, I can only lie back and whimper softly in to the pillow...

But there is Town news, thanks to that eagle-eyed slacker extraordinaire Pete Green, who shyly emailed me with a link to the West Cumbrian News & Star. The article excitedly reports that "Gretna striker Gary Cohen is set to join Grimsby Town on loan after returning from a hugely-successful season-long spell with Workington Reds." Before that, the 21-year-old, who was top scorer for the Reds, is reported to be going to Austria for a pre-season training camp with his Gretna teammates.

For those of you who are mildly surprised that Town are scouting west Cumbrian non-League sides, I can tell you that the link lies with Scarborough, as Gretna's reserve team coach Dean Holdsworth played under Mr Slade there. Gretna, as Sky's Jeff Stelling endlessly tells us, have a rich bloke at the helm who lends one of his flash cars to the man of the match each week. "What's that about big fishes in small puddles?" I hear you mutter. Anyway, here's a photo of the chirpy-looking young Mr Cohen. Let's hope he makes the grade.

Meanwhile Town's official site is busy trumpeting the fact that Sunderland keeper Michael Ingham has declined a move to the Mariners in favour of joining Wrexham. Ingham is on the fringes of the Northern Ireland squad and had an earlier loan spell at Wrexham, which he enjoyed, according to the Wrexham Daily Post. To pad out the page those pesky official site interweb kids also tell us that all the Town players offered contracts who still haven't signed, er, still haven't signed.

Well I, for one, will be rooting for Macclesfield against Lincoln. We don't want another of the Lincolnshire sides getting promoted do we? Ooh, and I just got forwarded a cracking story from Diary reader John Pakey. It's all about the current shenanigans in Hull to do with Adam Pearson starting up a radio station to broadcast amber propaganda. And on that wonderful rhyming note I will bid you adieu. See yer.