Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 31 January 2012

31 January 2012

So when Grimsby Town fans arrived in the Conference, the image freshest in the minds of their fellow non-League supporters was the disorder some of them had created at Burton Albion a few weeks previously. Many Grimsby Town fans went on to spend the next year and a half sneering about "pub teams" and "tinpot cups". And now a clutch of Grimsby Town fans have gone off snivelling "boohoo, I'm telling teacher" to the Conference because a club brought to the very brink of ruin by spending beyond its means has had the temerity to loan some new bodies in and prop up the squad left threadbare when other clubs came in to cherry-pick their unpaid players.

No, your original/regular Diary has no idea at all why everyone seems to have it in for Grimsby Town. But I'm sure that, in the unlikely event of, say, Deadly John (Topcon)'s word proving unreliable and Town being left in the shit, our fellow fans will show the same empathy and support to us that we've shown them.

Right then, let's do the transfer deadline day thing. First and most importantly, Straight Peter Bore will be performing heterosexual right-back duties for Lincoln City from now on ("popular with the Pontoon," apparently). Secondly, Ryan Bennett maybe dunno 15 per cent Swansea something or other 25 per cent perhaps can't be arsed. And in other news GTFC have acquired the services of former Aldershot and Southend winger Louis Soares. Look, he's got cool hair!

In a move that seems universally applauded by supporters (of Grimsby), Soares has arrived on an 18-month contract from Hayes & Yeading, where he's scored 16 goals in 34 games this season, says the Grimmo Telegraph. From midfield, in a struggling side, that's a great strike rate. The Telewag adds that Soares is "a Bajan international", which I didn't understand so I had a look on Wikipedia and it means he plays for Barbados, so that's pretty cool too. I'd never have learned that if we hadn't signed him. Wherever Serge Makofo ends up by 11pm tonight, they'll become my second club.

I can't quite remember whether the Diary has mentioned GTFC's commendable new scheme to raise money towards youth development. Supporters can pay £25 to have their name engraved in a 'fans' walkway' at the entrance to Blundell Park. Rather than go directly into the club, though, your money goes to something called the Parents' Partnership Action Group (PPAG). What does this do? According to the Telegraph, it "helps young people become future Mariners stars". And, er, that's it.

So Cod Almighty contacted the club on Twitter (given the club's sudden new aptitude for social media, it seemed like the right thing to do) to ask if there's any information to be had about the PPAG and how it works. The club sent us a direct message back to say, basically, no, there isn't. This seems to me a shame, as we'd probably be interested in adding at least one Cod Almighty brick in the wall, if only we knew a bit more about where our money would go. I'm sure the PPAG is perfectly sound, and doesn't have links to parent vigilante groups that burn down the homes of paediatricians, or anything like that. I'm just curious as to why the money goes through it instead of straight to the club. Am I being overly pernickety?

Well, I think that's about it for now. I'm going for a spicy tomato and crouton Cup-a-Soup, and with any luck Liam Hearn is locked in a trunk somewhere. T'ra!