Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 14 March 2013

14 March 2013

Welcome to Thursday with your original/regular Diary, brought to you from the Nag's Head on this beautiful sunny lunchtime in the Loxley valley by the power of mobile interstuff. Mine's a pint of Brown Cow please, if you're buying. Cheers.

Praising the contribution made by a Derek Niven-type midfielder is, as everyone knows, a very good way to show you Know About Football, particularly if you point out that the same player is likely to be unappreciated by fans who don't Know About Football. "Ah yes," you will say, possibly stroking your chin for added effect, "most fans don't notice this, of course, but if you take Niven/Jim Dobbin/Bobby Mitchell out of the midfield, the team will actually fall apart, western civilisation collapse, and the dead rise from the grave to feast on the brains of the living." And apart from the zombie apocalypse bit, you'll be feeling quite pleased with yourself after a Niven-less Town limped to back-to-back defeats on Saturday and Tuesday against two resurgent promotion rivals. It's not the end of the world, but to many it feels close.

It could get worse for Town's midfield, and for those supporters who have argued against the first-choice status of Niven and Craig Disley this season. Disley was withdrawn at half time against Mansfield on Tuesday night, with the scoresheet blank and Town more than holding their own. We all know what happened next, and the word is that Dis the Whizz could be gone for some time, with hamstrings or blood or whatever. This eventuality is presumably just why Shorty and Shouty shored up the squad with the loan of Dougie Wilson from King$ton Communications FC. That Naylor lad looks handy, and we know Andi Thanoj can use the ball well. But it remains to be seen whether a promotion challenge can retain its thrust when anchored by a central midfield whose combined age is less than that of Justin Bieber.

Meanwhile Town's fellow promotion chasers Newport County have been moaning about their fixture congestion and lodged a formal protest by writing to the Football Conference. This seems to have offended some Town fans, who believe you should moan about your fixture congestion and lodge a formal protest by going on messageboards and Twitter and endlessly repeating the word 'tinpot'. Ultimately it seems the problem is attributable to the ridiculously early end to this season, on 20 April. Conference officials say this, in turn, is down to the Champions League final being played at Wembley a month later and the grass needs a rest or something. Be that as it may, the questions remain. Why did the Conference season still kick off a week after everyone else's? Why does the Conference play-off final have to take place at Wembley anyway? And how many Grimsby fans believe Gateshead should be docked points for their repeated inability to stop the clouds from releasing rain?

Lastly today, thanks to Phil Watson for emailing about the Curtis Woodhouse thing. Funnily enough, I have a friend who lives just round the corner from Mount View Road. If any other boxers need to sort out a troll in the same area, just give us a shout and I'll send them round for a word. I'm not sure it'll have quite the same intimidatory effect as a visit in person but you might save a quid or two on petrol.