Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 7 August 2006

7 August 2006

One day the Diary might misplace an apostrophe, Town fans might get through 90 minutes without booing their own team, and Tony Blair's tongue might not be eight inches up George W Bush's arse. There is a first time for everything, after all - as demonstrated by today's Lincolnshire Echo, where a story about Saturday's game between the Mariners and Boston is headlined Evans lost for words. The notoriously loquacious Pilgrims boss does not quite live up to this promising billing, however, and recovers his power of speech sufficiently to reflect that "all three of their goals were down to individuals switching off". Some observers might counter that both the goals scored by Cuddly Steve's much-improved team were, likewise, due largely to power cuts in the Mariners defence and, moreover, that the home team's miraculous comeback owed more than a little to the decisive introduction as a substitute of Peter Booooooooorrrrrrrrre. Still, if Evans was temporarily struck dumb by the Town wunderkind's awesome debut then at least it would have kept him out of trouble with the police.

Cuh, I dunno. You go through all that time without winning any Lincolnshire derbies, and then once you start you end up winning two on the same day.

Disputes with the local media have been as integral to recent seasons at GTFC as signing gigantic central defenders, slugging long balls towards Luton's Michael Reddy, and rescheduling games to Friday nights without consulting their fans. The only surprising aspect of the latest spat between BP and the BBC, then, is that it concerns the fees payable for commentary rights rather than a presenter dissenting against the doctrine of divine Fental Infallibility. When I wasn't daydreaming lists of similarities between Peter Bore and Theo Walcott, the Diary spent the rest of the weekend after 5pm on Saturday trying to make sense of it all. Most supporters seem to have sided with Radio Humberside by default, either mindful of Town's tendency to make a complete pig's arse of their relations with the media, or just enjoying any excuse for a whinge. CA contributor Richard Dawson, on the other hand, is highly critical of Humberside's position and its coverage of the issue during Saturday. In the interests of balance - and because the club tends to be incapable of stating its own case in intelligible English - I will reproduce here the email he sent to the radio station that evening.

David Burns spent half his programme today bragging what a great station Humberside is and openly criticising the board of Grimsby Town for refusing to pay the decreased fees put on offer by the station for live match commentary rights. In my view the football club, although technically a commercial venture, is in reality a community asset. And one which is almost impossible to make profitable in the way in which professional football is currently structured. Part of the reason for that is the unfair way in which media monies are distributed and the fact that the BBC pays less to clubs in lower divisions for commentary rights is a classic example of that. The BBC has a duty to its long-suffering licence payers and Radio Humberside has a duty to the citizens of Grimsby and the fans of its football club. The fault lies not with the football club and shame on David Burns for his one-sided presentation this afternoon. I hope that this is properly redressed on air in future days.

Another issue affecting Town fans, and one on which my mind is considerably clearer, is that of the club's proposed move to a new stadium. The Diary's passionate belief is that the Fentydome will be bloody horrible: the setting is as bleak as Glanford Park's, with added stench of Pyewipe; the stadium building will be offensively bland and devoid of character; less than half full for most games, it will be equally lacking in atmosphere; and there won't be a decent pub or pint for miles around. Though this is a minority view among Mariners supporters, it is a view nonetheless, and Mark Stilton has emailed the Diary on the subject of Town's pleas for us all to tell North East Lincs council how ace we think the Fentydome will be. "It's nice of the club to ask us to tell the council what we think of the new stadium plans," he writes, "but it'd be nice if the club would also ask for feedback. I don't want to go on a downer about the new stadium - I think there are positives and negatives to take out of it. I just don't see how me telling the council this will help the club's planning application." Well, readers, if the club doesn't want your feedback on the Fentydome, at least the Diary does. Email diary@codalmighty.com with your twopenn'orth.

Finally today, don't forget that Town's official website can help with all your planning for away matches this season - including our visits to Carlisle, Leyton Orient, Northampton, Oxford and Rushden.