Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 4 February 2013

4 February 2013

Miss Guest Diary writes: Having frozen my socks off three times in eight days supporting Town, I decided to award myself an afternoon in the warm arting and crafting with a friend on Saturday. I felt confident Town would win and there's something about Alfreton which fills me with inertia, so I had no qualms about not going to Blundell Park. Consequently, I missed the Richard Brodie show. The Grimsby Telegraph describes him as being "at the heart" of Saturday's victory. The highlights on Mariners Player seem to bear that out, as does the fact that he is mentioned 23 times in the Cod Almighty match report.

However, those match report mentions do not indicate unqualified approval - in the post-match factfile Brodie is charged with being in a "state of gracelessness" and "at the centre of inaction". Do the highlights lie? Have they been edited by a Brodie fan? Has Brodie himself bamboozled the local rag into singing his praises? Or has Mr Butcher taken an arbitrary dislike to the striker? I'll leave those readers who attended the game to decide.

Very helpfully, the Telegraph has begun to arrange the post-match ramblings of our managerial duo - this time the shorter one - into sub-headings, so that you can just cut to the chase if, for example, you want to know what's happening with Anthony Elding. Apparently he's "speaking with a club". No mention of which one - possibly the local book club; he's certainly had plenty of time to catch up with his reading lately.

I'm sure we were all as surprised as Ross Hannah that he was left on the bench on Saturday and didn't even come on as sub. What is going to happen when Liam Hearn is fit again in a month's time? I suspect there'll be plenty of moaning from the Pontoon - not the easiest group of fans to please at the best of times - if Town's hitman hero from last season is left on the bench or, even worse, doesn't make it into the squad. Football managers like to talk about the benefits of healthy competition, but I can't help thinking that having to vie with at least six other people for your place in the team must be demoralising. Imagine going into work on a Monday morning and having to fight off competition to sit at your usual desk, or drive your usual lorry. Wouldn't you eventually just say "oh sod it" and kick back? I think I would.

In off-the-field news, the Mariners Trust has recently announced a whole raft of fundraising events, including an evening with George Kerr, a family race night and a comedy night. Membership of the trust is continuing to grow and it is approaching its target membership of 750. This has reminded me that my own membership is due for renewal - the cheque is in the post. Honest!