Cod Almighty | Diary

Thanks for the memories

21 May 2015

After finding myself subconsciously chanting "FISH" at work at two o'clock this morning, it's clear that the dust hasn't settled from Sunday. In your North-West Diary's first entry since Wembley, it needs to be said that you lot are bloody ace. Thanks for the memories.

Since our loss on penalties at the weekend, new memberships with the Mariners Trust have soared. Proof that, even in failure and defeat, we have the most loyal and loving fans. You lot are bloody ace. If you've not yet signed up to the Mariners trust, please do so. Your small donation can make the biggest difference.

Also, a petition has begun for supporters to donate £100 each to the club for squad building. It really brings a tear to the eye. Knowing that, in the week after getting our wallets decimated by a trip to the capital, so many fans are determined to give their hard earned cash (or in my case, just earned) to the cause is truly heart-warming. Did I mention that you lot are bloody ace?

Right, let me pull my head out of your collective sphincters for a moment to bring you some massive non-news. An ex-Town player has moved to another football club! Yes, you heard me right. Shocking, isn't it. Shortly after London Diary's glorious post yesterday, former Town frontman Liam Hearn signed for our sort of local 'rivals' Lincoln City. Now, I've never really seen Lincoln as our biggest rivals, so for them to sign one of our ex-players isn't a crime. In all honesty, the moment Liam Hearn left Blundell Park to join Mansfield, I stopped caring about him. I prefer to concentrate on the players we actually do still have.

Despite this, many Town fans have taken this transfer personally. I understand their frustration in seeing an old favourite lift the red and white of the Imps, but football is Hearn's profession, and he should do what he sees fit in order to maintain his trade and bring home the bacon. Hearn was adored by those of a black and white persuasion in his time at Blundell Park, and rightly so. His goals and his attitude to the game endeared himself to the faithful, but that's all gone now. He is just another ex-player. Thanks for the memories, Liam, but that's all.

Now, in a tedious Mansfield/Grimsby-related link, loan striker Ollie Palmer has returned to his parent club. In an interview with a local paper, Palmer has claimed that Sunday's referee Ross Booo Joyce (that is now officially his middle name, by deed poll), told him that he didn't send off Brizzle keeper Will Puddy after THE INCIDENT because he didn't want to spoil the game [sharpens pitchfork]. Sigh. Just, sigh. I reckon Joyce also gets his kicks from popping children's balloons and blowing out their birthday candles early too. He just seems the type, doesn't he?

In other outgoing news, Christian Jolley, who apparently used to be good, has surprised nobody by leaving the club after finally talking to Paul Hurst yesterday. His biggest contribution to Grimsby was knocking us out of the play-offs for Newport. He will not live long in the memory will he?

One last thing before I go and apply some more post-Wembley aftersun to my burnt nose and brow: our beloved Macca (no, the other one) has been rightly awarded a non-League keeper of the year award. Well in, James. Please don't leave.