Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 2 August 2010

2 August 2010

Mardy Diary writes: It's hard to find fault with Leary 2.0 - he's played well pre-season and surprised a few people in the process. He looks fit, he looks keen (although v1.0 always did) and he sounds keen. He tells the Telewag today that he's raring to go and striving to put right what once went wrong, hoping each time that his next leap is the leap... home.

What Leary says does fit loosely in to the Tell The Telegraph We've Not Been The Best Lately But We'll Get Better Now mould - albeit with a seasonal rather than match-by-match emphasis. What is the most interesting part of the article is his reference to "prima donnas" - who could he mean? Sweeney seems a likely candidate, perhaps Conlon - or even Newell himself? Although Barry Fucking Conlon is more prime donner than prima donna. What? Hey, if John Bishop can get a Saturday night slot on BBC1 with tired old jokes, there's surely hope for me yet.

Steven 'Eh?' Watt has signed a two-year deal with the club, and I'm pretty pleased about this - I don't know about you. I only saw him in the Sheffield Wednesday match but he looked a tidy and calm player, a slightly shorter Rob Jones if you like. Reports from Gainsborough suggest he had another good game and while you may look at the number of central defenders at the club and think perhaps we've over-egged it, it does means we're not worrying about Atkinson's recovery. With any luck, some of these defenders can play across the defence for extra cover.

Whether Watt is one of the two remaining signings that Woods suggested he was looking for, or just an additional 'bonus' signing is yet to be seen. Trialists Eagle and Samuels (isn't that a solicitors?) are still at the club and presumably will play some part in the matches this coming week. Incidentally, Robert Eagle was ace for my King's Lynn side in Footy Manager - which means... absolutely nothing.

With not long to go before the season starts, the club has still managed to squeeze in a couple more games. Firstly there's the Lincs Senior Cup Final on Tuesday and then a trip to Barton the following day. Woods is reported as saying he will take a "strong squad" to Barton, which may mean some of the youthers taking part in the Scunthorpe match. Are we taking this cup seriously? It may be the only bit of silverware we win for decades!

Oh, and Chris Jones slipped out while no-one was looking. I expect it raised a brief shrug among most Town fans. Who is left of the Newell signings? Atkinson first joined on loan before Newell, and both Hudson and Coulson were signed by Woods, I believe. So, that leaves transfer-listed duo Colgan and Forbes along with Michael Leary. And that's pretty much left me speechless. Seeya.