Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 30 May 2013

30 May 2013

Your original/regular Diary's tendency to get Ilkeston and Alfreton mixed up is unlikely to be helped by the news that the football clubs based in the two small north-east midland towns have both signed former GTFC players this week. In the case of Ilkeston, the player is Rob Peet, one of those former youth team keepers who never made the breakthrough for Town.

Much the more interesting of the two transfers is that of Bradley Wood to Alfreton. When released by Shorty and Shouty a few weeks ago Wood, ludicrously, was Town's longest-serving player at the age of 21. The claimants to that title immediately before him, I seem to think, were players like Nick Hegarty and Straight Peter Bore. Like Wood, these were young players who had worked their way out of the Mariners' youth system and into the first team. Like Wood, they worked their way back out of the first team and out of the door.

While Wood, Hegarty and SPB remained for three or four seasons, the first-team squad churned inexorably around them. That not just one but three very young players successively could be the longest-serving at the club speaks volumes about the chaotic management that has enveloped Blundell Park these past few years.

Now that we no longer have a chairman to sack the manager(s) and spend half a million quid cancelling players' contracts every time the Fishy messageboard chucks a strop, those days might hopefully be behind us. Now that Councillor John 'Flagsmasher' Fenty (Con)'s distinctive style of executive leadership can no longer be sustained, however, and the cuts to the playing budget are belatedly but inevitably starting to be made, managers may start choosing to leave of their own accord.

Our friend Sibbo has emailed the Diary on the subject of Wood's switch to Alfreton Town. "Bradders is a solid player and I wish him well with his new club," he writes. "However, roll on next season with players new and old, as I've succumbed to watching Town on YouTube. There's only so much reminising a guy can do but it's easy to forget how many good goals have been scored by a player in a Town shirt.

"The night JP Kalala hit the back of the Pontoon net against Spurs. Oh those memories of going home and somehow getting pissed. There is a wall above a fireplace in my old house which bears the score and details of the game. I was in the middle of decorating so no harm came! We all need to get revved up for next season and hope it's a successful one and I hope to see your original/regular Diary take his place in the Pontoon." Well, it'll mean digging deep, but I expect our paths will cross there again, chum.

Sibbo concludes: "Well done all you lads and lasses who keep our daily Diary going. You have the support of readers like me who don`t contribute much but always read. See you at BP very soon." Well, thankyou very much. It's always nice to find a bit of appreciation. Let's hope Bradley Wood finds some at Alfreton too.