Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 23 August 2007

23 August 2007

Long ago, when Middle Aged Diary was young, the then leader of the Labour Party accused the left of having a public school mentality: "It does not matter if the game is won or lost, but how you play the game", Neil Kinnock intoned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

As one who was selling Trotskyist newspapers at the time, it is a great pleasure to hear Stuart Watkiss affirming his Militant Tendencies. Previewing the reserves' 2007-08 season, he tells the official site: "...overall we are not governed by just results. I want the reserves to continue with their good standard of play, the good tempo they set and the attitude that was shown in the vast majority of games last season." Let's hope he is more successful producing potential first team footballers than we were overthrowing Margaret Thatcher (though as the Middle Aged Diary's first stint was to write about the death of George Best, and my last, containing a gratuitous reference to Fred Trueman, preceded by a few days the demise of the former Yorkshire and England fast bowler, that last sentence might finally do the job)

Late news from last weekend's action now, and the Myspace Mariners got their campaign under way with a 2-1 win at Darlington, Nathan Emson and James Quinn scoring the goals; very encouraging but I can't help wondering if the much travelled Northern Ireland international might be a little old for the youth team by now. Meanwhile Tom Newey has been named in the Press Association's fourth division team of the week.

There is plenty of news for those who like to keep up with the Mariners' former employees. Nicky Law, now managing Alfreton, has secured Halifax centre half Greg Young on loan. "I am not frightened to make changes, and will continue to do so if I have to until we get it right," he says. Supporters of the Derbyshire club will be heartened at our confirmation that Law is not scared of changing things. If ever he shows signs of getting things right, do let us know.

The board of Dirty! Leeds Utd (that's the board which owes millions of pounds, and which in no way got its mates to pretend they were owed money by the club so that they could vote to accept a deal offering a few pence to the pound for genuine creditors) are apparently considering a bid for Hibs' captain Rob Jones, who has so far been unable to agree an improved contract with the Edinburgh club, despite the Stick being valued at £1 million. Town will apparently profit from any transfer fee paid for Jones. However, as the source of this story is an agent, speaking to the Sun, it may lack complete veracity. A bit like Leeds's financial statements, allegedly.

Finally, to celebrate Cod Almighty reaching the milestone of publishing exactly 3,261 pages, and because contemporary news is thin on the ground (there's some patronising puff in the Telegraph about a campaign by no-ones's favourite bearded self-publicist to make those who follow a football team but manage to retain a sense of perspective feel that they are not "proper" fans, but I'm not going to dignify it with a link), we thought we'd reproduce an archive Diary from exactly ten years ago:

23rd August 1997
Grimsby's third consecutive draw fuels doubts about the controversial decision to reappoint Alan Buckley. "Pass and move is all very well, but it just won't work in the lower divisions anymore. Anyone dreaming we'll be playing at Wembley later this season just doesn't understand the modern game", supporters processing from the Pontoon to the Imperial are heard to agree. With just three goals from the first three games of the season, there are concerns over the strikers available to the team- one immobile, another with a poor scoring record and two youngsters. Kevin Jobling played from the start today, highlighting the lack of specialist full-backs in the squad. Buckley insists "whether we're good, bad or indifferent, we'll be trying to play the game the right way." There is also some stuff about the Mariners' proposed move to Great Coates but the Diary can't be bothered with it. You mark my words, we'll still be playing at Blundell Park a decade from now."