Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 29 June 2006

29 June 2006

By 'eck, lad, tha'd best not be carryin' on wi' t' anti-Yorkie chants next season, else tha'll reet unsettle t' new goalie! It is in honour of the Mariners' latest signing Phil Barnes that today's Diary begins with that shockingly poor rendition of Yorkshire dialect, as the player has already given an interview to Mariners World which begins with a confession that "I were born in Sheffield" and includes the recollection that "I used to come here as a kid! Me mum and dad used to bring me for t' day." Barnes is a 27-year-old goalkeeper and played 170 of his career's 183 first-team games during a seven-year stint at Blackpool before joining Sheffield United in 2004. So far as the Diary has been able to ascertain, he was generally well thought of by Blackpool fans, who were often critical of former manager Steve McMahon for fielding loan signings ahead of him, though there were those who felt the player needed to take more command over his defence. Any road, Barnes has signed a three-year contract after Town and the Blades agreed an "undisclosed fee" (£150,000 then, presumably), and with any luck he will resemble the holiday destination of his youth - Beacholme, Cleethorpes - in representing reet good value.

Before I sign off for the week and hand you over, as is my wont, to a reserve diarist for Friday, there remains the matter of a jocular email from one of those reserves - the estimable Mr Durham Diary. "Pleased to see Sir McDermott has re-signed and not resigned. Is he allowed to collect his wage and pension simultaneously?" he quips playfully, tweaking his bow tie. "Has anyone told Grahams Rodger that if he appointed a number two he wouldn't have to work so hard? Everyone needs someone less important than themselves, so they can delegate the dirty work. I can't be arsed to find out - you can do this one Diary," concludes Durham, as a nearby drummer goes "ber-dum-tschhhh".