Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 22 January 2007

22 January 2007

Six defeats in a row, then - but if you're one of those rare Grimbarians who wants causes for optimism, the 1-0 reverse to Darlington on Saturday was the first one of the sequence that Town didn't deserve to lose. Maybe Alan Buckley would say that, but so does whoever reported it in the Grimsby Telegraph; so does Tony Butcher; so does the Sunday Sun; and so, indeed, does the Northern Echo. "No matter what I say after that, it is all immaterial because all people will see is the 0-1 scoreline," laments Lord Buckley, displaying an undimmed grasp of local psychology and possibly thinking of our old mate Mr Purple, who is probably still kicking the back of the Pontoon Stand and gurgling "WANKERS!" as you and I are sitting down with a sandwich and a cup of tea for lunch two days later. Note to GTFC marketing department: offer free anger management counselling with 2007-08 season ticket.

So James Hunt started to look the part, Simon Grand banished those Walsall nightmares, Peter Till remembered what wingers do, and Martin Paterson was back to his swashbuckling best. The shaky form continues, though, on Town's official website, which mystifyingly reports that "Kevin James made his home debut" against the Quakers on Saturday. Kevin James, lest you have forgotten, is the right winger loaned by Graham Rodger from Nottingham Forest, who dislocated his shoulder in his home debut against Bastard Franchise Scum FC on 4 November last year, and has not played since.

As you might recall, the Diary broke the news last week that Town shelled out £21,000 to agents in the second half of 2006 - up from £13,560 in the earlier part of the year. Interestingly, last Thursday was the first time since the Football League began publishing its six-monthly reports on cash given to agents by its clubs that GTFC did not simultaneously release news of the club's own payments; instead, Positive John Fenty gave an explanation to the club's official website over the weekend. This focuses mostly on the concept of transparency. You'd better have a look for yourself and see what you make of it, reader, because I don't really understand it. One thing I am fairly certain of is that the chairman has misused the phrase 'carte blanche', which everyone knows is a kind of ice cream.