Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Wednesday 5 November 2008
5 November 2008
Sometime yesterday Coventry City's official website reported that Nathan Jarman and Danny Grant had bagged two each as Town won a reserve game against the Sky Blues by four goals to three. Excited enough to run a quick Google search, the Diary found a Grimsby Telegraph match report from six months ago, saying that a lad called Danny Grant had moved up from the Mariners' under-14 side to the under-15s and put in a superb display at full-back in a 4-0 win over Chesterfield. This morning, however, Town's superb new official website reported that the Danny who bagged a brace against Cov yesterday was not Master Grant but Mr North. A 15-year-old full-back scoring twice for Town's reserves in a tremendous 4-3 away win against a second-flight club? Or Town's superb new official website getting something right? It's like trying to decide whether Barack Obama (a) is a Muslim fundamentalist warmonger who wants to explode your face; or (b) will lead the world into a new era of peace, freedom, equality and ecological salvation by Thursday teatime.
Town's youth team have emulated their elders in the first XI by dominating a game and failing to win. Local not-really-rivals Lincoln City sent a side up the A46 last night which was second best for much of the match but contrived a 1-0 victory to eject the Myspace Mariners from the "FA Cup Youth Cup" (SNOS) in the first round. Still, you can't expect miracles if their best players are going to be poached by the reserves, can you?
In 1995, when he became the first player to move from Grimsby to West Brom under Alan Buckley, he was rechristened Aggie the Baggie. After almost a decade of work at Staffordshire community side Whittington FC, he now answers to the title of West Midlands amateur coach of the year. Paul Agnew was handed the gong at a thing called the FA's annual Charter Standard Awards, reports the Tamworth Herald, which details the other admirable coaching work the former Mariner is involved in these days. Agnew, of course, is fondly regarded by Town fans for almost 300 appearances in all competitions over 11 years at Blundell Park, and his name evokes happy memories of the Mariners' past status as a higher-division club and a bygone era of left-backs who were at least vaguely any good.
Your regular Diary is having two days off this week rather than just Friday, so the industrious Guest Diary will be filling in here for the rest of the week. Before I leave for the capital, there's an email from Al Wilkinson, who has risen to the one-upmanship challenge posed on this page yesterday. While many of us knew someone who thought central midfield was Danny Butterfield's best position, Al can go a step further. "I know someone who thought that Tony Crane was better then Andy Todd," he claims. That's nothing - I know someone who thinks the Diary is better now than it was in 2004.
Anyone wishing to continue this game of one-potato-more, or begin a more fruitful activity of any sort, is advised to contact Guest Diary using the feedback page. I'll see you on Monday - t'ra for now!