Cod Almighty | Diary

The desert grows three miles a year

14 May 2015

As Swedish rock band Europe once said, it's the final countdown (do-do DOOO doo, do-do DO-do-do), and as we get to ever nearer to Sunday's season finale, Town fans up and down the country seem to be going a little bit insane – your North-West Diary included.

If hours stuck in work weren't boring enough, spending them watching the clock tick by, dreaming of Wembley Way, extortionately priced hot dogs and the overly enthusiastic stadium announcer definitely does not help proceedings. So it was actually quite nice and thoughtful of the Football Conference and Wembley Stadium PLC Ltd to give us so much to moan about in the run-up to Sunday, just to keep us slightly occupied.

Apparently, after all the kerfuffle over ticketing for the play-off final, limited tickets are now being sold from Blundell Park. Hallelujah! Only about a week late. Farcical goings on that were once only imaginable on set with Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall have been topped, and then some. We can expect Conference, the sitcom, to be commissioned any time soon. Probably on Channel 5.

Another thing that has kept quite a few Mariners fans busy this week has been the thankless task of attempting to dig out Harry Haddock inflatables of yesteryear. Stuffed behind boxes marked 'Christmas tree decorations' and 'Benidorm holiday snaps', many of us may have one of these treasures lurking, just waiting to be patched up ahead of the big occasion. Iconic (to us) images of Aidan Davison and others holding Harrys aloft in '98 will bring a tear to many an eye, and will rejuvenate the search one last time before we all descend south over the weekend.

In other news, the campaign has stepped up for local legend and future GQ Man of the Year Lloyd Griffith to sing the national anthem ahead of kick-off on Sunday. With the voice of an angel, and a face to match, it would seem that Lloyd is the perfect choice, but apparently they already have someone booked in. What, the Conference? Organised? I don't believe it either.