Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 18 September 2008

18 September 2008

Now it's Richard O'Kelly's turn. Brought to Blundell Park as a player by Alan Buckley in the late 1980s, O'Kelly scored ten goals in 39 appearances before injury forced him to quit. Then came stints as a youth team coach with the Mariners, West Brom (for seven years) and Aston Villa, followed by assistant manager positions at Hereford, Bournemouth and latterly Doncaster, where his manager Sean O'Driscoll said yesterday: "Richard is 50 years of age and he doesn't need my permission to do anything. He's well thought of at Grimsby and he'll make his own decisions." Like John Deehan before him, O'Kelly is a midlands-born former centre-forward - a background that is unlikely to endear a managerial candidate to some sections of the Mariners' support - but on the positive side, as far as the Diary's concerned, he has nearly the same name as the director of Donnie Darko.

As the dust settles on the sacking - sorry, John; the gentle ushering towards the exit door of Lord Alan Buckley, a re-examination of last Saturday's freakish home defeat against Chester suggests that the result was even more contrary to the play than already suspected. Many observers sympathetic to the Mariners have already noted the extraordinary possession statistic recorded on the BBC sport website after the match, as reproduced below:

But further research by a crack team of football boffins who look a bit like Dr Bunsen Honeydew off of The Muppet Show has since revealed a series of further statistics proving, by science and that, that the Deviants were even more fortunate than had previously been suggested:

Last up from your regular Diary this week is another email from Jane Banks, who, if upper case were upper class, would be first in line to the throne. "Thanks for your concern about my oxygen levels! Ha ha ha, I am FINE! Nothing like a good old rant, is there! Come on you MIGHTY MARINERS, sock it to ALL THE FANS now!" Thanks, Jane - we're all glad you're OK! If your internet connection ever goes down, just stand on your doorstep and read out your email and and we should pick it up just fine.