Cod Almighty | Diary

You can have any colour you like, as long as it's black

3 December 2015

The Grimsby Town news cupboard is bare. The Telegraph has a couple of articles based on an interview given by Joe Hart, not in his role as Manchester City and England goalkeeper but as a "BT Sport ambassador". You didn't know a TV channel needs an ambassador, did you? Don't be fooled by the headline into thinking he ventures an opinion about our own number 1. The key word in "like Grimsby Town's James McKeown" is "like".

Hart is handing out out diplomatic platitudes like others dish out gritty chocolates because BT Sport is broadcasting our FA Cup tie with Shrewsbury. The match has been rearranged for Monday to suit their convenience.

When Middle-Aged Diary first started on CA diary duty, that "middle-aged" was self-deprecating. It's rapidly becoming euphemistic. That means I am of the generation that remembers when a live televised football match – the FA Cup final, England v Scotland, maybe the European finals – was a rare treat that you looked forward to. Nowadays, they pile up with the reality TV formats. The Great British Turn-Off. Apparently, Virgin Media thinks the only thing wrong is there isn't enough of the stuff.

Cripes, I'm grumpy today and that was before I read today's Cleethorpes Chronicle and the latest from John Fenty about the stadium. Well, partly about the stadium. As a sideshoot to assuming a monopoly of truth on relocation, he's now decided to give us his views on the regeneration of Freeman Street.

No, I'm not being fair. He is refreshingly open-minded about where the new ground should go. He's happy for it to go anywhere along Peaks Parkway. Within reason, of course.