Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 30 August 2007

30 August 2007

Lord Alan Buckley has followed up the hugely successful signings last season of Scunthorpe's Peter Beagrie and Andy Butler by bringing in Iron defender Dave Mulligan on an initial one-month loan, thus allowing Ryan Bennett to move into his natural central defensive position and give a rest to Town's ageing but still brilliant captain Justin Whittle. Before joining the Lincolnshire footballing aristocracy in 2006 the player made a name for himself at Doncaster as a set-piece expert, earning a 'player of the round' award in the 2005-06 FA Cup with two goals from free kicks as the Yorkshire side won away at Boston. A 25-year-old New Zealand international, Mulligan made 24 appearances in Scunthorpe's fairly successful league campaign last season but is yet to play this time around, and is described by GTFC Kama Sutra experts as "capable of performing in a number of positions". On close examination this appears to mean that he is a right-back who can also play in central midfield, so a bit like Jamie Clarke except he can play right-back.

The gibbons who run Town's superb new official website are also claiming that Buckley, as promised previously, is in "dialog" with a striker and the word is that said frontman could be set to join on loan in time for Saturday's visit to Shrewsbury. Fans who attended Town's defeat at Farsley Celtic last month are hoping that this is a striker other than Nathan Jarman, who seemed just a little out of condition in his pre-season run-out with the Mariners but has come back having shed a bit of timber - and scored in the reserves' opening-day 3-2 win over Hartlepool yesterday afternoon. The former Barnsley kid was joined on the stiffs' scoresheet by Straight Peter Bore, who bagged the other two goals and celebrated with nothing more than a firm handshake.

Before I leave you to the weekend and the wilds of southern Shrewsbury, and the tender ministrations of Guest Diary tomorrow, there's an email from Rich Mills, who has been admiring the recent photograph of various servicemen and women donning Cod Almighty T-shirts while on duty in Iraq. "Great picture of John Lewis and his colleagues," writes Rich, "but it begs the questions: Why is Kirsty of the RAF wearing a pink shirt? What's up with Judson? He doesn't look very happy. Is he a Boston fan?" I'm sorry, that information is classified. "Oh and all the usual keep up the good work type p.s. Postbag sometime soon??" Perhaps so, Rich! The Diary enjoyed the rare pleasure of a day in the company of Mr Postbag last weekend; I am pleased to report that the latter has got a load of stuff sorted out and may be back on the scene very soon. So, readers - brace yourself for one huge edition of the Postbag with about 60 letters, then four or five more up to Christmas, and then nothing else for another nine months!