Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 16 December 2010

16 December 2010

There are many traditions of Grimsby Town Football Club that have been abandoned under the stewardship of Neil Woods. League football for one. Another long-established custom in North East Lincolnshire is that success in cup competitions is only permissable when accompanied, in the early rounds, by dire league form. One only has to cast one's mind back to the third tenure of Alan Buckley (peace be upon him) for a classic example of this venerable tradition in practice.

However, not only is the senior team proving moderately successful in the Methodist Anti-Gambling Conference Premier Division and the FA Trophy: the youth team too has steamed through to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup. The Telegraph match report of this happy event, while we are on the subject of broken traditions, carries considerably less literary merit than the SNOS account, which reveals that among the victorious Mariners' substitutes was the improbably named Brodie Blankley. The youth team, for those who are interested in such matters, will face Newcastle United's youth side in the next round, should the young magpies pull off an unlikely giant-killing against that of Dulwich Hamlet.

Let it never be said that Grimsby Town players lack empathy with their loyal supporters. Mr Steven What (?) admits in the Telegraph's main piece to his "frustration at having to watch on from the stands" for the duration of his recovery from a knee injury about which your Reserve Team Diary had completely forgotten. Mr What (?) is clearly one of the brighter members of the home dressing room at Blundell Park as he has managed to include some very amusing puns on his affliction which have obviously passed the less erudite Telegraph sub-editors by. He refers metaphorically to having "stumbled again" during his recovery and of the necessity of having to take "a few steps back". Such witticisms doubtless mean that there isn't a dry eye on the training ground when Steven What (?) takes to the stage.