Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Wednesday 6 July 2011
6 July 2011
Fourteen months ago, when Deadly John (Topcon) took Grimsby Town FC out of the Football League, your original/regular Diary, as always, tried to look around for the positives. There'd be some new grounds to visit. Cod Almighty would be allowed to publish a fixture list without some wanker threatening to sue us. And the chairman would take a long, hard look at his own role in the Mariners' relegation and abandon his calamitous strategy of changing the manager every five minu... oh.
As it turned out, of course, Town's first season of non-League football featured more negatives than positives. But that's not to say next season will necessarily do likewise. True, after he sacked Neil Woods, Deadly John (Topcon)'s first half-dozen or so managerial targets may have run a mile screaming. But the poor suckers who finally took the job seem to be impressing some supporters with their activity in the transfer market. And several years after the Football League quietly phased out bank holiday derby matches, let's all rejoice at their return next season. Because if that bungling Tory pillock had never taken Town into the Conference, there's no way we'd be lining up against Lincoln City on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Good on yer, John!
Meanwhile, the good old Grimsby Telewag has managed to publish an article about who Town are playing on the first day of the season without ever mentioning when the first day of the season actually is. And Town's superb new official website deserves enormous credit for managing to use both "Frankie Says Yes" and "Frankie Relaxed" on the very first day of Frankie Artus' term as a Grimsby Town player. The Diary is already enjoying the utter perplexity of every Town fan below the age of 30, and looks forward to the revival of plans for the Fentydome, which the SNOS will doubtless headline "Welcome to the Pleasuredome".
If Alan Connell is to leave Blundell Park before the new season, it won't be to Wimbledon. After returning to the Football League through the play-offs this summer, the south London side added to their striking personnel by signing Charles 'Charles' Ademeno. But their efforts to pair the former GTFC workhorse with his erstwhile teammate Connell have come to an end. Dons manager Terry Brown has baulked at the fee being demanded by Town, telling the Surrey Herald: "He's a proven goalscorer in the Conference and at pro level as well, but they have priced him out of the market to be honest." That's the idea, obviously.
So how much are Town after for him? It was reported earlier this week that another recent entrant to the Football League, Stevenage, had unsuccessfully bid £65,000 for Connell during the last transfer window. Clearly it would make no sense at all for the Mariners to sell at such a price, as it would cost far more in signing-on fees and paying off contracts for the 20 or 30 strikers Town would need to bring in and ship out before discovering another who has anything like Connell's scoring rate. With Stevenage and Wimbledon successfully priced out, then, it seems that Connell will only depart at the flexing of the financial muscle packed by a genuinely big club. So, Fleetwood Town it is, then.
Lastly today, for those of you tracking the movements of Paul Groves, he's now working as a youth team coach with Bournemouth. A step down from assistant manager of West Ham, perhaps, but a step up from manager of Grimsby, surely?