Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 25 November 2005

25 November 2005

Call me Middle-Aged Diary.

Not so middle-aged, however, as to remember George Best in his prime: by the time I was coming to football consciousness he was mainly associated with a jingle that rhymed "superstar" with "Platex bra". The self-satisfaction of old pros telling us that modern footballers are not fit to lace his drinks has been undermined in recent years, so let's allow Graham Taylor, a man who achieved the highest accolade the game can offer (captaining Grimsby Town), to remind us why we carry on hearing about him 30 years after he last played.

Put the words "Savage", "clearance" and "net" at the start of an article and it sounds like a paean to John Beck's Cambridge side. In fact it brings us the news that one-time Town target Bas Savage has joined Bristol City after some vague legal difficulties.

Team news, and the BBC informs us that Oxford have acquired the temporary services of strikers Neville Roach and Scott Fitzgerald. This might have been a problem, but the slender Rob Jones, who has read all the latter's books, is a surprise inclusion in the Town squad. Calvin Andrew is poorly and, in the department of telling you things you already know, Tom Newey is suspended, but Gary Croft is fit to replace him and looking forward to playing his old friend Chris Hargreaves.

If you fancy going to a football ground tomorrow, and can't make it to the hideously named KasStad, you could always wander to the club shop between the hours of ten and three, and making a start on the Christmas shopping for those Man Utd-supporting relatives you really don't get on with. Whatever you decide to do, hope you have a good weekend. Good luck.