Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 8 November 2010

8 November 2010

Ooh-er! Defensive crisis at tomorrow's opponents Cambridge - two centre-halves injured and one suspended means, unless Martin Ling can take someone suitable on a last-minute loan, that they'll have to play someone who's capable of playing there but doesn't normally get picked. Your Guest Diarist, standing in for a ridiculously busy Mr Mardy Diary, has done eleven seconds' research and come up with this bombshell. And that'll have to do you for news, gentle reader, because the only other bit concerns Town having some youth trialist games and the amazing reportage on the SNOS that kids have applied to play.

But we did get a couple of nice responses to my appeal to the older generation to tell us about Ron Cockerill, who died last week. Alan Dickens was first, saying: "Big Ron was a big bloke and a terrific wing-half (no. 6) for Town - a legend, in fact, along with others such as Whitefoot, Connor, Boylen, Groves, Childs and Chatterley. Apart from a cannonball shot (think he got about 30 goals in 300 games and 25-30 yarders were his stock-in-trade), my distinct memory of him was coming out in Town's new gobsmacking strip in 1960 of white shirts and red shorts - we couldn't believe it either and Ron did a few twirls and curtsies in the centre circle, laughing like a clown as if to say 'nothing to do with me'. Sorry to hear Ron's gone - probably the best left-sided midfielder Town ever had."

And then David Elvidge: "I was saddened to read in last Friday's Diary of the death of Ron Cockerill. Ron was part of the '60's team I used to watch from the Osmond. He was a giant in more than one sense and never gave less than 100 per cent in every game. Indeed, I can never recall a bad performance from him. I think it was a match report from our dear friends at the Telewag headed 'One Out the Barrel from Worthington' (a rare goal from Dave Worthington) which got some of us reaching for dictionaries after describing Ron as 'the phlegmatic Cockerill' (I thought it meant that he had played despite having catarrh). Thanks Ron for being such a loyal and dependable player for Town."

But there's a sting in the tail from David as he can't help wondering what would have happened if Town had been brave enough (or daft enough, depending on your point of view) to have given son John the manager's job after he had been caretaker no fewer than three times as managers came and went at Town. Both son and father had their playing careers ended by injury. There's a school of thought, apparently, that neither got the best treatment from the club maybe, but let's hope it was just a case of always being hardest on the ones you loved the most. See yer.