Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 26 August 2010

26 August 2010

As we all know Town have used a lot of different players over the last few seasons. It feels like barely a game passes these days without one new signing or another playing their first game in a Mariners shirt. Tuesday night's excellent victory at Darlington was no different with both Lewis Gobern and youngster Tom Corner making their full debuts. In parallel with Gobern and Corner today's reserve-team diarist is excited to be making a debut of sorts by penning a first ever diary entry.

So to the news. First up the publication of the latest Football League Agents Fees Report has prompted our glorious leaderJohn Fenty (Con) to defend the £17,775 spent by Town on agents' fees last season, the third highest in the division: "No club likes to pay agents' fees but that's the game we are in. They are a necessary evil if you want to bring good players to your club." says John. I'm sceptical, and can't help but wonder which good players Fenty is actually referring to. Indeed, a little more research shows us that 11 other clubs in the basement division last season didn't pay any agents fees at all. Every one of those clubs avoided relegation while Bournemouth and Dagenham and Redbridge were promoted. Hmmmm, hardly a shining endorsement of Fenty's approach.

Bizarrely for a relegation season I often look back at the 1996/97 season with fondness. While the results were often terrible, my first year as a season ticket holder was brightened by entertaining and skilful contributions from youthful pair Jack Lester and John Oster, both brought into the team by caretaker manager Kenny Swain. With this in mind it's nice to see that Kenny is returning to Blundell Park tomorrow where his England under-17 team will face Australia. Here's hoping that Kenny gets a good reception and the his young England team can restore a bit of lost faith in the national team.

Lastly the Telewag reports that former Town winger Nick Hegarty is on trial with Scottish Premier League side St. Mirren. Whilst not always the most popular player with the fans your diarist always appreciated Nicks effort and spirit. Here's hoping that he does a Simon Ford and makes a successful career for himself in Scotland.