Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 6 March 2012

6 March 2012

Shortly after Deadly John (Topcon) stepped down as chairman of Grimsby Town Football Club last year, the Mariners changed with remarkable abruptness from a long-term disaster zone to a swaggering, free-scoring, table-climbing, Barcelona-bettering candidate for double Wembley glory. It would be remiss of your original/regular Diary not to note another change over the past three weeks. Since Topcon loomed back on to the scene with his deeply flawed, short-termist, Russian roulette-inspired plan to regain control of the club, Town's run of wins has ended. With only one victory in the last three games, the FA Trophy run over, and ground being lost on the play-offs, there's a smell of something all too familiar in the air. Just saying, like.

Fleetwood tonight, then. Oh boy. If you were irritated by Braintree's, shall we say, expansive interpretation of the rules on Saturday, remember that Fleetwood redefine the very envelope of gamesmanship. The envelope of gamesmanship is in the drawer with the sticky tape of cheating, the stapler of sharp practice, and the Jiffy bag of Steve Evans. It's one of those 'expect nothing and you won't be disappointed' scenarios. Don't knock it: if I hadn't taken that approach to supporting GTFC in general, I'd have turned into one of those gutless traitors who goes off to buy a Liverpool shirt or watch Hull instead.

"Another confusing diary entry," begins a flustered email from Charles Lumley in response to Mardy Diary's words here last Friday. "Your analogy about me being able to live in a £4million house for a fairly lengthy period of time at no cost to myself and with no financial commitments just made me regret ever getting on the property ladder. Was I supposed to end up hating Fenty or something or have you fallen out with your landlord?" Close, Charles. You were supposed to end up hating my landlord. By the way, if that was "another" confusing diary, you need to tell us which other ones we can help you with.

There ain't a whole lot else going on today, so take some time to look through a lovely, absorbing blog post from our chum Rich Mills. It's all about his GTFC memorabilia and he's scanned in some absolute beauties.

I'm off for a little stroll in the sun with the five remaining minutes of my lunch hour. So if the vote on the share transfer is still running, and if you've got a ballot paper that's yet to be filled in, do take a moment to remember most of the period from 2004 to 2011 before you place your cross. Do have a little dignity, and don't give in to bullying and blackmail.