Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 13 October 2005

13 October 2005

If Tuesday was a slow news day then Thursday makes it look like John Fenty on amphetamines, as today's lamentably weak lead story is that no decision has yet been made on whether Town will be allowed to have another 500 mates round for their party against Newcastle on Wednesday week. In case you've forgotten since yesterday, and because I need to pad out this paragraph a bit, GTFC are wishing to make Blundell Park into a genuine four-cornered arena by installing extra seating between the Osmond end and the Beer Stand, and they're waiting for a decision from the police and a shadowy cabal known only as the Safety Advisory Group. Taking full advantage of a rare opportunity to get a shot back at the Diary, the club's official website insists that the relevant meeting took place yesterday and not today. Oooh, get you!

Gary Croft won't be playing for the Mariners, or anyone else for that matter, at Cheltenham tomorrow night. Today's Grimsby Telegraph reports, and I can't give you the link because their website is playing up again, that the player has been told to rest with the, um, whatever injury it was that opened the door for Tom Newey to replace him - and for Kevin Betsy to tear the Mariners apart down their left flank - in last Friday's home defeat by Wycombe. This is bad news for Town fans, better news for Tom Newey, and fantastic news for whoever plays right midfield for Cheltenham.

Settle down now. In the absence of anything very much better to do, the Diary can now reveal just how close Scott Kerr came to joining the Mariners over the summer. The former Scarborough midfielder, you may recall if you're as much of an anorak as the Diary, was briefly the subject of an entertaining Chelseaesque tapping-up row shortly after Russell Slade joined Grimsby from the Salty Seamen in 2004. Slade was publicly alleged by his furious former employer to have invited Kerr to follow him down the east coast, but then it all went a bit quiet for a year, yes, a year, until 2005, in fact, when we all suspected that the player was just about to join Town at last when he signed for Lincoln instead, and, confirming our suspicions, an interview with Kerr on Lincoln's official website now reveals that the player was just about to join Town at last when he signed for Lincoln instead.

Oh, and there was something in the Telegraph about Town running "soccer schools", whereby local youngsters brush up their skills and hope to catch the eye of club scouts while GTFC cultivate the next generation of fans and develop stronger links with the local community. A really good scheme, by the sounds of it, then, which clearly deserves as much coverage as it can get and probably more besides; hence it seemingly having been ignored completely by the club's official website. Hey ho.

Before I bid you cheerio for the week, it's a good job Mark Wilson is around to fire off an email and keep us all sane. "I beg to differ with the Diary over our chances of winning a prestigious trophy this season," he writes. "Whilst the reserves tumbling out of the cup t'Tahgers was disappointing can I remind you we still have the LDV to come and we have several more opportunities to win the Powerade player of the month and the Carling/Carlsberg/Carcroft, Brigg and Thorp Arch Performance of the Week. I hope there's space in the trophy cabinet." Thanks, Mark. You're now persona non grata in Darley Dale.