Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 8 April 2008

8 April 2008

Good afternoon, Town fans. Today, it seems, John Fenty (Con) hasn't used the Mariners' official website to tell his milkman he'll need an extra pint tomorrow morning, so we'll just have to find something else to talk about.

For some time now the fortunes of Town's reserve team have mirrored those of the first team - if you can imagine a mirror that turns everything upside down as well as back to front, that is. For the first XI the 2005-06 season, when they nearly got promoted, was the only one for about the last ten years that wasn't overwhelmingly dreadful - and the reserves managed to go through the entire campaign without a single win. And just as the stiffs surged impressively up the league in the following season, the first team returned immediately to mediocrity. But now, excitingly, the cycle looks set to be broken - with both the first team and the reserves suffering simultaneous strings of defeats! Since qualifying for the Dulux Cup final Lord Alan Buckley's side have reverted to the shite form that marred, well, most of this season, and lost five of their last seven games - and by going down 2-0 at home to Sheffield United yesterday Stuart Watkiss's second XI made it an impressive three defeats in eight days. If we're celebrating failure then surely the reserves deserve a civic reception of their own.

With no new signings having arrived at or, indeed, departed Blundell Park in the last few months, and hence no new signed shirts being available to flog on eBay after 28 minutes of loan substitute action, GTFC bosses are on the lookout for new ways to bring down the club's towering overdraft. The latest appears to be a scheme whereby young players brought to the Grimsby area to join the club's youth team, instead of being accommodated in five-star luxury B&Bs on Isaac's Hill, crash on Town fans' sofas. "Youth boss Neil Woods will have a whole new batch of YT players for 2008/9 and is hoping that Grimsby Town fans can help house these promising young stars," reports today's Grimsby Telegraph. It's certainly an enterprising proposal - but surely a few more quid would be in the offing after a well thought-out pitch to the commissioning editors at BBC3's reality drama department. Boooo Twon no ambishun!!