Cod Almighty | Diary

He might not regenerate European economies like George, or pin batsmen to their crease like Malcolm, but we are only asking Marcus to run fast and ping in the odd decent cross

30 June 2015

Such is Cod Almighty's dedication to bringing you all the news thats fit to make half-baked jokes about, Middle-Aged Diary has risen Lazarus-like from his sickbed to run the runes over the latest.

Not that late of course is the news that Marcus Marshall has returned to Blundell Park on a one-year deal, having been released by Bury after spending last season at Lincoln. I gather this signing is causing rather more stir than Marshall actually managed during his first spell at Grimsby, but I'm ill enough already without delving too deep into nesbit-land. His becoming the 1,000th out-of-contract footballer to say that after Grimsby became interested "other clubs became irrelevant to me" was not sufficient for me to formulate an opinion. I asked Cod Almighty match reporter Tony Butcher to refresh our memories:

He fills me with inertia, but not in a bad way. He was OK sometimes, anonymous at others, occasionally quite good. Uninspiringly middling, a known quantity, nothing special, nothing terrible. A shruggable signing to fill gaps.

Tony goes on to express the hope that 'old Bob' Monkhouse won't be a non-League Peter Beagrie. Positivity reigns, though. He could be a non-League Garry Birtles (The only other midfielder signing for Town in the twilight of his career I can instantly recall is Neil Webb, but I have it on good authority that the club has not been purchasing XXXL-sized football kit.)

The Telegraph which, let us acknowledge is having a good close season with a minimum of stories made up from the wilder realms of social media speculation, reckons we might be in for another busy day, with Cambridge right-back Richard Tait headlining their 'watch this space' filler story. Remember, if they are right, you heard it here third or fourth, but if they are wrong we are just reporting what people are saying.

Finally, North East Lincolnshire Council seems to have gone to the trouble of trying to put some flesh on the bones of what a new 'community stadium' might mean, and not in a Neil Webb kind of way. It concludes that a stadium is likely to bring significant benefits. A list of possible sites is being considered but none are named. One councillor has an excited quote about Freeman Street, a site third only to the Docks for getting people who know next to nothing about planning processes (mea culpa) excited about the idea. Top of that list is of course the streets to the west of Cleethorpes and the east of Grimsby, that area with the rather time-worn looking sports ground in it. I still can't help feeling that's a part of the area that could do with a bit of regeneration.