Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 25 January 2013

25 January 2013

Mardy Diary writes: So it looks like there's a slight possibility that Marcus Marshall may return to GTFC, given that he can't play for another club this season - and at the time of writing Radio Humberside have just reported that this will be the case. This follows on from a protracted will-he-won't-he saga involving inveterate player stealers Luton and FA rule dodgers Bury. If you want a rundown of what the issue is, the Too Good To Go Down blog covers it perfectly here.

Regardless of what happens, the failed former Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell is not happy about it. "If I had known you couldn't have put a 24-hour recall clause in I wouldn't have let him go on a long-term loan," said the man who assisted Plymouth to relegation in 1998. What Kevin is admitting here is that if he'd bothered to read the rules (convoluted though they may be) then he wouldn't have let Marshall go on a long-term loan. However, he - and others at Bury - clearly didn't bother reading them. Whoops!

Blackwell - who left Luton in the third division relegation zone in 2008 - went on to lash out at the "ineptitude of the FA and their registrations" and claimed that it was their fault in the first place that he didn't bother to read the rules. It's a fair point - I've often complained about the FA's see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach to letting incompetents run football clubs.

But not content with blaming 'rules' and the FA, Blackwell, famous for contributing to the relegation of two teams from the Championship in the 2006-07 season, then went on to lash out at Town, claiming he was "speechless" and "angry, very angry, about the way Grimsby have conducted themselves". And here it's easy to sympathise with the man who was dismissed by Sheffield United while in the relegation zone of the second tier. The problem with these clubs that read the rules, act on them accordingly and then expect others to do the same is that it then makes those who fail to read the rules look a bit stupid.

That wasn't the end of that matter though. Blackwell, who has taken a poor Bury side to the dizzy heights of 22nd in the third division, added that Town have been "very shoddy" before continuing in a new form of English to say: "Let me tell you, and I'm not happy with Grimsby." It's difficult to see where else Blackwell can lay blame here, but I suggest he perhaps blames "the Frenchman" before claiming that "any female off the street" could do what Marshall has done today. He's fuming, John.

The issue that Blackwell seems to have is that Grimsby have somehow swayed Marshall into deciding not to sign for Luton. Aside from the fact that the northern-based player doesn't seem keen to move his family down south for six months, the real crime here appears to be that Town have told the player they like him and they want him to play for us. This is in contrast to Bury, who have made it clear that they don't want him by allowing him to go out on a long-term loan, knowing that his contract expires in the summer. How utterly terrible of us.

I would, of course, be delighted if Marshall signs, as he looks like a player who will continue to improve. Although, regardless of what happens, I'm just happy that for once it's not Town who have made a monumental fuck-up of things. And while I see no humour in a player's career being left in limbo, the whole situation with Luton, Bury and Blackwell has been absolutely hilarious. Have a good weekend.