Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Monday 25 June 2007
25 June 2007
How do! Welcome to another wet Monday with the Diary. Thierry Henry having finally left for Spain after several summers of interminable rumours to that effect, the attention of the global football media looks set to turn to whether Stoke starlet Martin Paterson can resist the unparalleled glamour and wealth on offer to him in Cleethorpes. Paterson, of course, enjoyed a successful loan spell with Grimsby Town last season, and before he even left the pitch after his spectacular debut against Accrington last November excited local supporters could be heard to exclaim "yeh, 'e's alright, innee?", "yeh, could do wi' keeping 'im!" and "nerrr, 'e's too bloody good for us". Mariners boss Lord Alan Buckley has made little secret of his wish to bring the player back next season, and the latest, declares the club's official website, is that the player "will make a decision on his future next week after he has spoken to Potter's boss Tony Pulis", which is a little surprising, as the Diary always thought Potter's boss was Albus Dumbledore.
Today's other item of note on the OS is a briskly enjoyable little tête-à-tête with Danny Boshell. One of last season's star performers in the Town midfield, Bosh admits "it was a little strange playing left-back" in his one poor display for the Mariners thus far. A pleasingly informal exchange finds the player discussing his long-time friendship with Paul Bolland ("He went to Notts and started talking posh") and what he's been up to since the season ended: "I've had a week in Majorca... ten days in Portugal too". Two holidays? Bloody Nora - how much are we paying 'em?
Diary reader Roger Forman was kind enough to email last week with some advice about my boiler, which may have switched itself off this morning halfway through my shower but at least filled up a bit of space on this page last week when there was no news to report. "I had the same issue a couple of years ago," he writes, "and the control panel needed replacing at cost of £200ish. This is a common fault with Potterton boilers especially, and has even appeared on Watchdog." Thanks Roger. On the one hand, at least it's happened in the summer instead of the winter; on the other, the summer is when we renew our season tickets at a cost of £300ish, so it's going to be cold water chez Diary for a few more weeks yet. Mike Harrison's email puts it all in perspective though: "No doubt you will be mentioning this event so here's a link to save you the bother while you try and fix the boiler. It just shows what can happen even without the illegal shenanigans of our neighbours in south Lincs. A club with such a long history disappears and it could so easily have been us. Very sad." Indeed, Mike. Shall we blame it all on Russell Slade?
"Sorry to argue," writes Martyn Wyburn, arguing with something Leeds Diary wrote last Thursday, "but smoking doesn't soothe the nerves - it increases your heartbeat and often stimulates the release of adrenaline and is a very bad thing!" So with England's imminent smoking-in-public-places ban set to cause apoplexy in right-wing libertarians everywhere (I expect it's political correctness gone mad, like everything else they don't agree with), and not actually soothing the nerves anyway, how will you be keeping calm while watching the Mariners next season, readers? Email diary@codalmighty.com with anything legal you can think of!