Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Wednesday 17 December 2008
17 December 2008
When did this trialist thing begin, exactly? Time was when an unknown player would arrive at Blundell Park for a trial possibly once a season. Rather than give his name a perfunctory Googling, note his lack of first-team experience, shrug and move on, as we do now, we would consider the trial a much bigger deal altogether. The reason I ask is that another such hopeful has turned up at GTFC in the form of Curtis Ujah - a 20-year-old central defender who will play away for the reserves against Huddersfield this afternoon. The veteran of three first-team games for Tamworth and Crawley Town, Ujah has also been on the books at Yeovil and Reading, where he was a trainee. The Diary estimates that the sudden upsurge in Town's use of trials began about five seasons ago - which is mightily useful from my point of view, as it coincides almost precisely with the inception of this website and has therefore given us something to talk about for the past half-decade.
Your festive-themed emails have brought copious seasonal sparkliness to the Diary's inbox - so copious, in fact, that we will have to spread some of it out to tomorrow. First up is Richard Lord: "When I was too young to attend Town matches at Blundell Park I used to listen to the commentary on the radio. On the first Saturday of every December I used to go round to my grandparents' house, which was down Manchester Street, and I used to put up their Christmas trimmings to the sound of John Tondeur on the wireless, as my nanna used to call it. For some reason that Saturday always threw up a home fixture, and one game that I remember in particular was a festive win over Crystal Palace. After going behind early on, Steve Livingstone equalised minutes later and Town spent the rest of the match searching for a winner. As the final whistle drew ever closer, and the Christmas tree neared completion, I heard a massive wall of noise drift across the back gardens of Neville Street and Fuller Street, celebrating Graham Rodger's late goal. I heard the huge cheer about ten seconds earlier than the goal was reported on the radio, so I had the bizarre experience of listening to the commentary knowing that a Town goal was imminent." Cheers, RL - a great anecdote, and timely, too, as supporters somehow knew in much the same way an equaliser for the visitors was imminent at the Mariners' recent home games against Bournemouth, Wycombe and Luton.
"My first ever visit to Blundell Park was on Boxing Day in 1959," writes Steve Lang, "or was it 1960? Town were bizarrely kitted out in black and white striped shirts, red shorts and red socks and their opponents were from Bradford (I think it was City but it might have been PA!). The great Jimmy Fell played on the wing but failed to prevent us from losing 3-1 - even though both sides scored four goals, three of ours were disallowed. Set the tone for a lifetime of disillusionment! After his illustrious career with Everton and Newcastle, Jimmy returned to Grimsby and I was lucky enough to meet him in a Cleethorpes nightclub. He was working for Courtaulds by then... and a very nice bloke he was! Perhaps one of your older readers can fill the gaps in my memory?" Perhaps! Drop us an email if you can. Steve adds a PS: "I note that Town's horrendous run of home form seems to have coincided almost exactly with your wife's confinement... can I suggest that there be no more additions to the family?" Don't worry - quite aside from the omens for the Mariners, if the Diary ever experiences another night like last night I will drop dead on the spot.
In tomorrow's Diary we'll turn to Mark Wilson's reminiscences of festive fisticuffs at BP as Chris Beeley breaks out the GTFC Christmas songs. If you've anything to add in the meantime, email diary@codalmighty.com - and that includes tips for getting a tired baby to sleep when they've been fed, burped and changed and they're still crying. Toodles!