Cod Almighty | Diary

The young once

30 July 2013

If you are a fan of local government structures of the 1970s (and who isn't), you might argue that tonight's friendly at North Ferriby United (kick off 7:00, admission £5, £3 concessions) is a battle for the pride of Humberside, after the two clubs' victories on Friday night over Hull and Scunthorpe. This of course requires you to ignore our own 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Iron, or possibly just to reckon that a Mariners defeat by less than four goals will count as a good result.

It has been tempting in the past for the Town fan to see North Ferriby as nothing more than the dustbin of dreams, a place in which those with a promising future behind them (see Hockless, Graham) seek sanctuary. The presence of Nathan Jarman in the Villagers' squad adds to that impression. However, the club, newly promoted to the Conference North, has never been stronger. Progress up the football pyramid has been accompanied by Northern Counties East Football League President's Cup, Northern Premier League Challenge Cup and at all times, seemingly inevitably, East Riding County Cup titles. We could be in for a very stiff test, but it all depends on the vagaries of selection and tactical objectives which make comparisons of friendly results an exercise which is both inevitable, given the dearth of more meaningful data in July, and fruitless.

The original/regular Diary's dictum that if the opposite of a statement is meaningless, the statement itself is not worth saying largely applies to the interview with Shaun Pearson in today's Telegraph. Strange to relate, he likes not letting in goals, but likes winning more, and he doesn't regard the new defensive signings as a waste of space. What is significant is that he is still talking about Chris Doig in the present tense. If he is not yet 'in the building' he is at least still standing on the welcome mat and facing the right way.

There is a good chance, of course, that the moment Middle-Aged Diary clicks the approve button to publish this Diary entry, Doig (surely destined to be vice-captain, so he can be Deputy Doig) will sign up. So the best thing I can do is click on Approve.