Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Friday 15 January 2010
15 January 2010
Ryan Bennett's sad transfer to O'Peterborough United is to be made permanent today and the fee looks like half a million quid in instalments, with an extra half a million if he plays for England (hmmm) or O'Posh make it to the Premier League (haaa!). After rebuffing the sweaty embrace of Barry Fry last summer and signing a long-term contract with the Mariners, the England under-18 international ended up moving to London Road after all on a three-month loan, immediately after the sacking of Mike Newell in October. There are essentially two interpretations of the transfer: (i) Bennett still wanted to play for Town but Town sent him packing when they realised that his transfer value would be decimated in the increasingly likely event of relegation to the Conference; and (ii) despite having played under several GTFC managers already, Bennett abruptly decided that life at Blundell Park would somehow be unbearable without Newell's guiding hand, and marched back to the chairman's office to demand an immediate transfer to a club he had more or less openly derided just weeks earlier. See if you can match these two interpretations to the two groups of people who adhere to them: (a) John Fenty (Con); (b) everyone else.
Nobody could really blame lower-league footballers for giving some consideration to how they'll earn a crust after they're too old to play - but in the deafening silence that has followed GTFC's recent offer of free players to good homes, there's something strangely inevitable about Michael Leary training to be a plumber. The former Barnet midfielder has been getting help from his trade union and told the PFA's website that after training he eats, sleeps and studies "between one and two hours a day, Monday to Friday". Insert your own joke here about Town's failure to plug their leaky backline.
The Diary doesn't normally bother mentioning awards for the best goal in a given round of a low-rent cup competition, and things like that, because they are much less about giving due recognition to superb sporting achievement than achieving 'brand exposure' for some grubby private company or other in its efforts to flog you razor blades or fizzy drinks. I will make an exception for the thing about the 50 top League Cup moments currently trailed on Town's superb new official website, because there's not a sponsor's name to be seen: remarkably, and commendably, not even that of the shit lager that currently affixes itself to the title of the tournament. So go there and vote for Phil Jevons or whatever, if you want!
What, then, of tomorrow's visit by Cheltenham? Matt Heywood and Nick Hegarty have a week of training behind them, leaving Robbie Stockdale and sulky Adrian Forbes as the only remaining absentees through injury. Cod Almighty's pre-match factfile/preview type thing brings you all the wider context, including a rueful look back at the last meeting between the sides, down at Whaddon Road on the first day of the season... ah, Barry Fucking Conlon, small boys in the park, false dawns, wasn't it? Marvellous.And if that 'Dad and Lad' offer isn't illegal then it should be. See yers!