Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 15 July 2008

15 July 2008

Breath easy, fellow Mariner. Idle Diary believes Alan Buckley has everything under control, and is - as they say - building from the back: "We had a lot of hype last summer about a search for a striker and we waited to get Martin Butler. I have spoken to a couple of forwards but there's no panic or anything. My priority was to sort the defence out and we've done that with three new faces to bolster us." And those fans who question where the creativity in the centre of the team will come from next season (I'm not even going to qualify that with "since Ciaran Toner left"), Buckers is fancying a bit of Barnsley battler Simon Heslop. Despite the midfielder training with Rochdale, the Town gaffer flicked through his modern management phrase book and then asked to be kept "in the loop" about the lad's future.

Winger or forward ("I'm better off out wide, or pushing on up front.") Chris Llewellyn is house hunting for a place closer to Blundell Park than Chester, so he can get settled in the area with his family. "It was quite emotional on the Sunday before I came over here. The kids were crying 'don't go, don't go' before I left. Hopefully it won't be for long." We hope so too - we'll get behind any bloke man enough to reveal his emotional side. But you too should get behind him: "Getting the fans behind you is an important part of any footballer's game. If you hear them singing your name, it gives you so much confidence." As the Grimmo Telegraph dust off the unused "Make Some Noise For The Boys" posters and stickers to gee up a noisy start to the season, the first challenge of the season for Town fans has been: to sing a chant about him we need something that rhymes with Llewellyn. Any ideas?

Already the super new official site is dreaming of some new content after tomorrow night's friendly with Corby Town. Quite wisely, given past navigational crimes, the SNOS declines to include a link for directions to Corby's ROCKingham Stadium. Yes, ROCK! Although it looks more like Bradford Park Avenue's home or, closer to home, the warm and welcoming King George V stadium than a ROCK venue.

And, finally, it's sad news as one-time Town loanee Michael Keane has been sacked for being overweight. "Keane received a letter from [his club, St Patrick's Athletic] earlier this year instructing him to lose weight and was given a target to aim towards. Failing to meet that goal was the reason offered for his dismissal," illuminates the Irish Independent. "In his defence, the player will argue that he hasn't missed a training session during his time with the club." Although €3,000 a week certainly could buy a lot of pies to make that weight back up.