Cod Almighty | Diary

No pressure, Chris, but you remind me of Paul Futcher

1 August 2013

Your Middle-Aged Diary recalls once regaling you with the distinction between no news (things that don't happen and aren't worth reporting) and No News (things that don't happen but are apparently newsworthy). So, for example, as I write, it is no news that Shaun Pearson has not signed for Real Madrid but No News that Gareth Bale has not either.

The other side of the coin is when News no longer deserves a capital letter. That Chris Doig has finally signed a one-year contract with the Mariners is less news, more relief. What maybe is News is that his role will include coaching and responsibility for any reserve team matches that may be arranged. That perhaps poses a question as to how many coaches a Conference club with two managers and no official reserve fixture list needs and can afford. A cynic might suggest coaching has been thrown in to the Doig deal as a makeweight to bridge the difference between the wages he wanted and the wages the club initially offered.

What the hell, though: it's 1 August, far too early for cynicism, and I'm inclined to like Doig. His comments suggest he is a bit of a throwback to the age when decent players, still enjoying the game, were prepared to move down the ladder. And if he provides for us a fraction of the value, not to mention pleasure, we derived from Trevor Whymark, Garry Birtles or Paul Futcher, it will be a very good deal.

Extending that analogy, after Futcher had helped John Cockerill steer the club following Alan Buckley's first departure, it felt like Brian Laws, in his first managerial role, made a quick decision that Futch might be a bit too influential, first dropping him then scapegoating him. That Scott and Hurst want a player with an interest in coaching, with leadership potential and with things to say says a great deal about their maturity. It is a sign of strength.