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Diary - Tuesday 9 September 2008

9 September 2008

There is no more interesting GTFC-related story today than the news that Blundell Park will be open to the public this weekend as part of something called Lincolnshire Heritage Day. The Diary's curiosity and cynicism are mildly aroused, I freely admit, by the fact that a Google search for "Lincolnshire Heritage Day" throws up only six results, and the only one of them that doesn't derive directly from yesterday's announcement of the event on Town's superb new official website dates back to 2001. Regardless of this intrigue, though, Sunday promises to be genuinely absorbing for fans who like that sort of stuff, with "a guided ground tour in which you will have the opportunity to look around the stands, in the dressing rooms and even a look around the boardroom" and "plenty of memorabilia on show in McMenemy's", so it's just a shame that Town's bungling communications staff couldn't give us all more than five days' notice of the event, because then I could have planned to go, and now I can't. Admission is free, but visitors presumably must don a hand-tailored three-piece suit and gold cufflinks before being permitted to set foot in McMenemy's.

"We will have news of when tickets go on sale soon," begins an item on the SNOS about the Mariners' forthcoming tie against Scunthorpe United in the Dulux Cup, the draw of which is so heavily regionalised, in order to 'stimulate interest' in the competition, that a derby against the Irons was all but guaranteed. The date for the game has been determined: it'll kick off at 7:30 on Tuesday 7 October. The Diary won't be going because I can't be doing with police telling me where I can and can't drink, walk or stand still for five seconds at a time. It's only a tenner though, or eight quid if you want to rest your body weight on your feet instead of your arse, as one is apparently allowed to do in these lower-division arenas. "We will have news of when tickets go on sale soon," repeats the piece at the end, poetically.

Time is yet to tell whether the name of Straight Peter Bore will be chanted with reverence and awe by thousands of adoring fans or merely be recalled from time to time in pub conversations about footballers who "could have had it all", like Robin Friday and Graham Hockless. Town's dangerously heterosexual young winger, you will recall, is out on loan at York City, where he enjoyed a stirring debut as a substitute in last week's 1-1 draw with Mansfield, watched by a Setanta TV audience which included the Diary. Impressed by SPB's impact, and eager to know whether he was rewarded with another run-out at the weekend, I discovered a report in York's unpretentiously named local paper The Press which reveals that our lad not only made the starting line-up in the Minstermen's 2-0 victory over Woking on Saturday but claimed the assist for their first goal. Manager Colin Walker, however, has described his team's winning performance as "the worst we have played all season" and added: "[Straight] Peter Bore found it difficult sometimes but he's finding what it's all about at this level and that will be good experience for him." Let's hope so.