Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 19 October 2006

19 October 2006

Thursday - you know - empty day - two days after the midweek match and two days before the weekend. Nothing to say about Thursday.

TV is dreadful without Sky on a Wednesday night - even with Freeview. I ended up watching Sky Sports News, as the most entertaining TV. Tony Gale and Paul Merson commentating on Chelsea, whilst Phil Thompson and Ian Rush do Liverpool. Does this show how long it is since Chelsea had some English speaking ex-players? Ho hum - no exciting news here except... The reserves win again - 1-0 at Lincoln. What can this mean? After five successful penalties and a team playing football on Tuesday the reserves don't wait another 34 games to win?

Onto reflecting the creativity of European club names. Shakhtar Donetsk sounds so much better than Scunthorpe United, Spartak Moscow so much more evocative than Doncaster Rovers and Girondins de Bordeaux is frankly historic compared to Milton Keynes Dons. Who invented these names? If you have Rot-Weiss Essen why didn't we have Black and Whites Grimsby? Tonight we have Wisla Krakow and AZ 67 Alkmaar in the UEFA Cup. Give me names like Go Ahead Deventer ahead of Sheffield Wednesday any day.

I work in an office with a guy called Pat Boshell, who for his sins is a Chelsea season ticket holder. Apart from his obsession about Chelsea he is also a passionate fan of the same Danny Boshell who plays for Town. So much so that I've been tasked with getting an autographed programme or - even better - a signed shirt. Sadly in all the games I've seen so far Danny has been no further than the bench and the aforementioned PB might even have watched the Hereford game to see his namesake play. But the report of his exploits on Tuesday begs the question does anyone know someone called Harkins? Gary Harkins rivals Channel 5 television in his unavailability. Is he a myth or a tax dodge? Why did we give him the number 4 shirt if he would have been better off wearing 34?

So speculation about who will face who on Saturday. For a start will Mike Edwards, Andy P, and Junior Mendes all return to Blundell Park? And will GR stick with the formula that worked on Tuesday? The Pontoon will want to stick with a winning formula that's for sure and football is about managing continuity. If it worked once, give it a second go.