Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 13 May 2005

13 May 2005

Hi guys. Happy Friday the 13th to you all. Durham Diary back here due to...well due to no-one else wanting to do it I guess.

"Pearson explained that "the accepted norm" for friendlies is "the bigger club getting 50% of the gate" - which raises some interesting questions about how they decide which is the bigger club." So said Regular McDiary yesterday. Not really Mr McD, you see if one club gets 50% and the other club gets the remainder, well, they get 50% as well. I should be at university doing maths really shouldn't I? Oh...

In early transfer "news", the Grimsby Telegraph are speculating that Shrewsbury midfielder Sam Aiston might be coming in this direction for next season. A swift one on Soccerbase verifies exactly what Durham Diary always supsected, namely that Aiston has made exactly 150 starts in all competitions for the Shrews, in addition to 41 substitute appearances. Interestingly Samuel has scored 7 goals in this time, meaning presumably our Russ feels the club doesn't currently have enough non-scoring midfielders on it's books. And who are we to disagree?

The OS have just reported that Rob Jones has signed a new one year deal. For Town. So he'll be around next year. I've heard a lot of people saying he's a bit rubbish, but I keep thinking back to the Rochdale away game that was abandoned on New Year's Day. He was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He headed everything away that they launched at us, and from free-kicks and corners he was awesome, hitting the bar and forcing their keeper into the best save I've seen this season outside of, well, outside of Petr Cech. So I for one am glad he's signed a new one year deal. For Town. And I'll look forward to him being useful in the air and useless on the floor next season.

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..." sang that woman person in the Sound of Music. The OS seem to think this is pretty sound advice, and have started their season review with the months of August and Septmber. But with it being the OS it's all a bit glossy and not brutal enough. If you want REAL analysis of the last season you could do a lot worse than Mr. Holt's statistically delicious effort available only on this site. And you thought a plug was only used in the bath...

If you haven't heard already, Malcolm Glazer is taking over Manchester United. And the supporters aren't that happy about it, like. So those who knew the way to Manchester made the long journey from home yesterday to vent their collective spleen, burning effigies and generally doing the whole "Boo, Sort It" thing. No, I'm not arsed really either, if you let people buy shares in your club so you can get a few new players then you run the risk of people, well, buying shares in your club. But hey, there isn't that much to write about, it's football related, and I've got a train to catch soon!

With all the lower divisions done bar the shouting more commonly referred to as playoffs, Durham Diary's attention will shift to the Premiership tomorrow [That'd be Sunday - Ed], with the only thing left to be resolved being who gets to have a relegation battle next year...I mean pull off the wonderful achievement of staying in the top flight. Personally I hope West Brom become the first ever club to be bottom of the Premier League at Christmas and not be relegated, since my mate here at uni is a Baggies fan. Why? Oh, well you see his cousin used to play for them a few years ago. Who is his cousin? I'm glad you asked that, 'cause it kinda makes it all relevant. Kevin Donovan. So despite having seen The Mariners win twice at Wembley, he's a bloody WBA fan because Kev played for them earlier. Which just about sums it up really, doesn't it? There are just too many reasons for people not to support Town sometimes. Still, at least he's not a Man U fan.

Finally today, Durham Diary wishes to offer his sincere apologies for the rude word used in my last diary. Thing is, I used an asterisk to censor the word, but the man who put it onto the web for you all un-censored it. I can assert I would never haved used a swearword without his intervention. The bastard.