Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 27 July 2006

27 July 2006

As the Diary has learned the hard way, supporting the Mariners is all about expectation management. I never allowed myself to believe for a moment that Town would be promoted last season, and escaped from the debacle that was Slade's final with only minimal emotional scarring. Another member of the Cod Almighty team had persuaded himself all season that the Town weren't going up, only to let himself believe for a few minutes during the Northampton game; the plastic surgeon says he may never recover from the real, physical scarring incurred when he beat his head repeatedly against the back of the Pontoon stand. This being the case, the Diary is pleased to note in today's Grimsby Telegraph an interview with Stuart Watkiss in which Town's new assistant manager observes: "There is more quality here than in the Kidderminster players I inherited when I joined the club." So the chances are that the Mariners should avoid relegation to the Conference. Expectation management, readers. Spare yourselves the pain.

Watkiss has begun his work with GTFC in loquacious form, as the erratic Teamtalk website also finds space for a few words from the former postal worker about how he landed the position. "Graham [Rodgerses] and I were young apprentices together at Wolves and have always kept in touch," explains Wozza. "I texted him to say 'well done' when he got the Grimsby job and then out of the blue he got in touch and offered me the number two job." Yes, Stu. That's 'out of the blue' in the sense that Eccentric Rich Aunt Diary sends me a huge cheque out of the blue every time I phone her just to say hello the week before my birthday.

Although the picnic of Town's playing squad is still several sandwiches short, none of the many trialists who showed up at Blundell Park earlier this month featured in the friendly against Rotherham on Monday. And if Danny Boshell and Richard Evans are wending their way back to their places of residence with empty hands and heavy hearts, they might take heart from the tale of Makhtar N'Diaye. "Makhtar who?" you ask. Ah, how quickly you forget. N'Diaye arrived for a try-out at BP in June 2005 alongside Jean-Paul Kam-Kal, failed to impress master tactician Mr Russell Slade, signed for a club in Switzerland instead, missed out on the World Cup because Senegal didn't qualify, and has just been given a contract by big-fish-in-small-pond Glasgow Rangers. Aw. Don't you love happy endings?