Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 4 September 2012

4 September 2012

Middle-aged Diary writes: Anthony Elding is, in short, a bit of a pillock.

Professional footballers are perfectly entitled to look after their careers. But one whose following at Grimsby has been built on his willingness to wear what purports to be his heart on his sleeve - rather than any special skills he brings onto the field - needs to be careful how he goes about doing it.

The interview Elding gave in February (with thanks to Dr Benjani in the twittersphere for saving me digging it out), when he extended his Town contract, reads like a man at that stage in a relationship when he feels the 'L word' is expected but not quite ready: "He loves playing for the club and the fans", even as he admits Grimsby Town is not his life. The professional is glad to have the 2012-13 season settled but the man who loves being with us, even if he does not quite love us yet, looks forward to a long-term future (2014 is a geological epoch in Grimsby terms nowadays) in which he helps the Mariners back into the League. Except that, less than a month into the 2012-13 season he was glad to have settled, when a League club expresses an interest, he wants to move.

A League One club? Anthony Elding is, at slightly greater length, a bit of a pillock with a very good agent.

Elsewhere, the rest of CA's understrength team (we let a couple of people go out on loan to another website but then our imaginary millionaire backers refused to finance a new recruit) perform miracles to bring you the news ahead of tonight's visit to Barrow. It would be a fine trip for making a weekend of it about this time of year, so a shame it's a midweek game. Hope you enjoy it, however you choose to follow it.