Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 8 October 2008

8 October 2008

Let there be no doubt about it: Scunthorpe United may have only a relatively short history as members of the Football League but they have certainly enjoyed a spell of comparative success since they were almost relegated back into non-League football in 2004. The Diary is quite happy to give those brave Irons the credit they are due for their recent leap up the leagues - which, let us remember, has been achieved against the odds as managers Laws and Adkins have grappled with the distinctly Grimsby-like issues of an unloved stadium and stubbornly low levels of support from the local population. It is said by some that Town and Scunny are bitter rivals, but this is to overlook the fraternal goodwill that extends from the Mariners community to their junior partners down the road. Which of us, when they were battling gamely towards promotion two seasons ago, did not say something along the lines of "It's the first time they've ever played Forest in the league? Oh, bless!" Who, then, would begrudge plucky Scunthorpe the 2-1 thrashing they dished out mercilessly last night to a team just 43 places below them in the Football League?

Yesterday's Diary, as you may recall, took a firm line on the crime of patronising your local rivals. "If there's anything worse than being patronised by Scunthorpe, the Diary doesn't want to find out what," is how it ended, except that there wasn't a capital 'i' on "if" because it was halfway through a sentence and there was a full stop after "what" rather than a comma, but I had to replace it just now because I wanted the sentence to continue afterwards. Mark Wilson has emailed in response: "I know you didn't want to know but seeing 'Ull in a Champions League place is as close to purgatory as I can manage. Increasingly my only hope is that a much bigger club nicks Brown from them and precipitates their slide back to mediocrity. By the way, agree with you about Newell, cracking appointment. Hello to Mrs Diary." Thank you, Mark. If anyone would like to try patronising King$ton Communication$ FC, please email your efforts to the usual address.