Cod Almighty | Diary

At this rate, we might have another testimonial match sometime

16 June 2015

John Oster, 36 years old, has rejected a new contract at Gateshead. The suggestion is that he is now retired from football.

Anyone who was at the Valley on 26 November 1996 suddenly feels rather old. That was the season when, despite being relegated, Clive Mendonca scored more goals than any other Town player had managed in a single season since Matt Tees and Stuart Brace in 1971-72. We had goals in us, but unfortunately the bulk of them were at our end.

Not at Charlton though. Mendonca scored twice in a 3-1 win. Oster, making his debut, was here, there and everywhere, a whirling dervish of a player, fearlessly taking responsibility for free kicks and corners. The player he reminds Middle-Aged Diary of most is, in fact, the cricketer Brian Lara. One flashed his boot, the other his bat like a boy wizard surprised and delighted at his own powers.

But this isn't a close season for mourning what is lost, because YES SIR WE CAN BOGLE. Omar Bogle, once of Solihull Moors, has agreed a three-year contract to join the Mariners. That's a three-year contract, not three months or three matches. That says a lot, about Bogle – the top scorer in last season's Conference North – about Paul Hurst and about the current mood at Blundell Park. Yes, it's a risk, but if you aren't feeling a certain tingle up and down your body, an extra urge to find out the new season's fixtures, I'm not sure why you are reading Cod Almighty.

The close season is meant for dreaming bright but hazy vistas. The vista is brighter still today.