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Diary - Wednesday 3 November 2010

3 November 2010

"Grimsby Town supporters erupted when John Steeples wove through the club's opponents in Division Two clashes during the 1980s," is not how your original/regular Diary expected the first GTFC-related news story of the day to begin. Steeples, as we all know, made only seven appearances for the Mariners before sloping off to Scarborough in 1982 without having troubled the scoresheet. But in these straitened times we must take whatever we can get. So let's put doubt aside and celebrate the fact that Steeples' daughter Kelly has been named the UK's outstanding new teacher of 2010. Well, it's probably the closest the Mariners will come to any kind of success while John Fenty remains at the club, right?

Speaking of Fenty (Con), keen-eyed readers may be wondering why successive diaries this week have yet to mention the chairman's latest interview on the Mariners Player subscription web service. This is because he says absolutely nothing you haven't heard a hundred times before during the course of his disastrous tenure in charge of the club. Give him another ten years and there'll be no building left.

There's another thing we haven't picked up recently here, but this time it's one we should have: a lifetime achievement award for the late Keith Alexander at last week's Black List Awards. At a time when it's still astonishing how few black footballers seem to get a crack at management, it's important to recognise what Keef achieved in the game. Apart from anything else, it's good to commemorate his life in any way at all because he was such a nice bloke and - from a more parochial but no less valid perspective - because of how fondly remembered he is as a GTFC player. But let's still hope his work can lead in some way to a much wider pool of candidates in future for the newly renamed Keith Alexander Award for black coaches and managers.

Let's return, then, if we must, to the 2010-11 vintage, and the slender hopes of betterment held out by the return to fitness of Charles Ademeno. In yesterday's friendly at Alfreton Town, the Silver Dude made it through 90 minutes for the first time since he appeared for Crawley at home to Tamworth on 17 April (watched by a crowd of 755). The match was arranged largely to assist the recuperation of Ademeno and mystery goalkeeper Kenny Arthur, but the latter failed to appear after - yegods! - pulling a hamstring in training yesterday morning. Another injury returnee, Lewis Gobern, scored twice and then got injured again, while midfield plodder Michael Leary added two more from the spot in a four-all draw. As well as the walking wounded, the Town XI comprised reserves such as Robbie Stockdale and young fringe players such as Tom Corner and Josh Fuller, so you can all have a day off from demanding the public disembowelling of Neil Woodses.

Last up, good luck to the Myspace Mariners tonight, when they host Stourbridge in the first round of the FA Youth Cup. If I were in town visiting my mum I'd certainly excuse myself for a couple of hours, as three quid seems a price well worth paying to go and see a successful team. For now the Diary is going off to wonder whether, in these straitened times, I can afford a tenner for the new Eux Autres album. So long.