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Diary - Thursday 21 September 2006

21 September 2006

In the grand scheme of footballing events that are not entirely unexpected, a defeat for the reserve team of Grimsby Town would rank somewhere between Brian Laws moaning about a referee and a Premiership manager taking a bung. So it is that the Mariners' second string - who are yet to record a victory since the end of the Boer War - crashed to a not entirely unexpected 4-0 defeat last night at the hands of affluent Humber rivals King$ton Communication$ FC. Town's official website does the usual thing about the trialist "showing some good touches", just like it always does when a trialist plays for the stiffs and is then quietly released, never to be heard from again.

It was the League Cup this week, in case you were trying not to notice, and so a brief trawl across the interweb's foully polluted waters today will land you with a Town-related reminiscence from should-have-been-England-manager Martin O'Neill, whose Aston Villa side beat Scunthorpe in the competition the other night. In the run-up to the match O'Neill told the Birmingham Post all about when his Leicester side were dumped out of the tournament as holders in 1997 by none other than the mightier-than-they-are-now Mariners. "To go out so meekly after fighting so hard to win the competition the previous year wasn't an experience I want to face or experience too often," recalls Mart, neglecting to mention that you don't get much more meek than conceding a goal off Steve Livingstone's arse.

It was that game, wasn't it?

Every bit as predictable as defeats for GTFC reserves are embarrassing mistakes by the GTFC website, and folk are positively queueing up this week to point them out and save the Diary a job. As we have already learned this week, the OS describes titchy Town starlet Andy Taylor as a 13-stone, six-foot-two striker and defender, and Sean Fieldsend has emailed the Diary to tell us more. "I decided to check out the squad list and couldn't help noticing we have two number 12s!" he writes. "Richard Ravenhill has made a solitary appearance for the club this season, whilst the other number twelve, Ricky Ravenhill, has made a whopping three and has also played for Chester this season. Maybe this is another example of cost cutting by Fenty? If we only buy players with the same name as ones we already have and then make them share a squad number then we can save money on shirt printing! Either that or it is just another example of our rather fabulous OS? You decide!" And while you're deciding, check out the new stock at "Tte GTFC Club Shop".

And there's more. "According to the OS," writes Liam Gallagher, "the reserves were 2-0 down at half time to an Atkinson strike and a Daryl Duffy brace. To me that makes three - unless Mr Duffy scored with his retainer? Sort it somebody."

You know what, though? It's too beautiful a day to let yourself get too worked up about football. Tomorrow I'm handing over to Miss Guest Diary for some pre-Stockport musings, but right now your regular Diary is off for a stroll down Meggies seafront in this glorious September sunshine, and might even be tempted by the prospect of a pint in Willy's. I suggest you do something similar as soon as you can. Ta-ta and thanks for reading!