Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 4 June 2009

4 June 2009

Newspapers have to fill their pages somehow, and when the companies that own them are sacking thousands of journalists because their profits have shrunk from massive to merely enormous, the job gets harder still. The Grimsby Telegraph sports desk, as we saw the other day, is feeling the pinch worst of all this summer as news on the Mariners dries up, and is heroically creating stories about goalkeepers who played - or rather, didn't play - for Town during a spell on loan from Chelsea fifteen years ago. Inspired by the valour of the Telewag team, the club's superb new official website is following suit with a 'where are they now?' series, bringing us up to date with the careers of such key figures in GTFC history as Steve Chettle, er, Chris Thompson, and today, um, Robbie Busscher, who made one appearance as a substitute for Town in 2001. Unlike their professional counterparts at Riby Square, however, the crafty SNOS team have made sure they can still devote plenty of time to successful marketing and communications activities by simply lifting their Busscher article almost word for word from Wikipedia. Smart thinking, guys!

That's about yer lot, really (although Mike Newell says Danny Boshell is good, which could also be news), so let's crack on with your email tales of travel to Town games. Can Ben Gresswell match a Lambretta or a narrowboat? "I travelled to see The Mariners play West Ham (FA Cup 1996, 1-1 Laws scored for Town and we beat them 3-0 in the replay) in a removal van. I was working for local firm Goodwins at the time and I persuaded the gaffer to let me go as driver's mate so I could go to the game. Spent the night in the wagon as well! Those were the days." The days when you could get nice perks from work, or the days when Town were any good? Meanwhile, the doyen of this week's Diary inbox, Jeremy Baily, went by "cross-channel ferry for games at Brighton, Ipswich, Gillingham and some London games (plus tubes of course) when living in Germany. Hitch-hiked in my youth too, when it was safe to do that sort of thing (has it ever been safe?)." If there's a hitch-hiking story to rival Tim White's epic jaunt to Hartlepool and back, then it needs to be told!

Lastly, Mark Wilson has another tip for how Andy Holt and his lovely missus might spend a day on the Coventry-to-Derby section of their forthcoming visit to the UK. "If Andy goes to Derby via the M6, M42, M1 route he'll virtually drive past the Tamworth SnowDome so he could go skiing in the summer! There's also some kind of mining museum near Coalville I recall. After that he could go and have a look round Donington Park (I believe they have a museum) and swing by the Stanton concrete pipeworks between Nottingham and Derby and drive into Derby via Brian Clough Way. It's a dream day out and I bet Mrs Andy would love it as well." Mrs Andy, incidentally, is still notorious among the Cod Almighty team for chucking out all our left-over curry at the CA end-of-season pyjama party in 2007, but in fairness I guess in New Zealand they probably don't have spinach dupiaza with tarka dhal and chilli naan for breakfast. "Isn't it great not to be nervous between 1 and 4.40 on a Saturday!" concludes Mark, tangentially. I wouldn't know - I spend the whole weekend worrying about what I'll put in the Diary on Monday.

That's yer lot from yer regular Diary this week, so thanks for reading and emailing. It's been good, this week, hasn't it? Like a lovely night down the pub. Remember to come back tomorrow as Guest Diary gets the final round in!