The Diary

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I'll render services that you may reasonably require

28 November 2013

"Who is Moneyman Mike Parker? His and our hopes and hearts are now entwined again 24/7 and this time a life long fan has the cash to back his and our dreams of a return to the Championship and perhaps better."
Vital Grimsby Town, 9 June 2010

Dave Roberts and Jon Wood joined the board of Grimsby Town Football Club in August of this year as representatives of the Mariners Trust and, by extension, all Town fans. Their welcome arrival threw into stark relief the scarcity of fresh boardroom expertise from the business community. The only other directors at the club – Michael Chapman and John Shelton Fenty – have been in situ for more than a decade.

And you don't need your original/regular Diary to remind you what's happened to our football club over that decade.

The arrival on the board today of local solicitor Philip Day is an interesting one, then, as much for the rarity of new blood in the boardroom as for his particular expertise. These appear – significantly for Fenty's recurring dream of a new stadium – to lie in the areas of land and planning law. Day's considerable experience in these domains is largely related to agriculture, so insert your own fertiliser joke here.

Having a legal man at hand, furthermore, is sure to be useful should Shelton find himself brought before a court of law at some point. I know, it's a fanciful scenario, but you need to be prepared.

"In modern football, you've got to adapt and have a modern stadium that generates money for the club," Day has told the Grimsby Telegraph. I'd like to know whether the club has actually researched the "new revenue streams" that are constantly referred to by advocates of Fentydome II, or whether Fenty and his mates are just guessing. Come on, you know what they're like.

Ah, of course.

In other news today, reserve goalkeeper Jonathan Hedge has joined Matlock Town on loan. I might go and see them play at home sometime, Matlock. Been meaning to for years. It's a lovely location for a ground.

Nice glasses, by the way, John.