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Diary - Thursday 12 June 2008

12 June 2008

The prelude continues to Town's disappointing failure to sign Michael Boulding this summer. A month after the Grimsby Telegraph ran an unsubstantiated story that the Mansfield forward was being "linked with" a return to Blundell Park, today's edition features some listless quotes from Alan Buckley to the effect that, yes, he's had a word with Boulding and some other clubs want him as well and he might be on holiday at the moment, maybe, not sure what's happening really, like, whatever. Of course, it's the strength of the squad one month from now, rather than the current vacationing crop, that will largely determine the outcome of the 2008-09 season, but it is the perception of inactivity in the transfer market that seems largely to blame for the glacial pace of season ticket sales, and utterances like this are unlikely to help. Anyone fancy a sweep on the destination and exact date when Boulding signs for a club that isn't Grimsby?

When football supporters say things like "Bah! I'm not handing the club any cash for tickets until they spend more cash on new players!" there is, of course, a huge and glaring logical disconnect at work, which they seem curiously unwilling to acknowledge, still less confront. It is a fallacy to which, some might say, Grimsby Town fans are all too vulnerable. And while the organisers of Keep the Mariners Afloat performed magnificently in raising more than £70,000, over three years, of the campaign's £420,000 target, it is noteworthy that a new supporters' group is performing better still at the relegated club Michael Boulding looks set to leave. Stags Fans United has been formed from a merger of four existing supporters' groups at Mansfield Town and is collecting funds to buy a stake in the club as uncertainty remains over its ownership and future, with non-League football about to return to Field Mill for the first time since 1931. It looks likely that SFU will have brought in more than £25,000 after just one week of fundraising. Now that looks more like a club "at the very heart of the community", don't you reckon?

Last up today (and, from me, this week, as Durham Diary will be doing the 'math' here tomorrow), we have an email from John England on the subject of Town's new kit manufacturer. "Error kit for Blunder Park," he writes. "I'm sorry, it just doesn't sound good. I know I'm being cynical but I've supported our team for over 40 years and after a while it starts to get to you." I really can't think what it is that you're getting at, John.