The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

The wait for new signings

2 June 2016

Did anybody else read Wicklow's superb diary yesterday and wonder how he managed to rewrite Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' but then miss a sitter by passing over the more obvious 'Sloop John B (Team)', a tune we have been known to butcher occasionally? 

Wicklow explained that if he ventures much further than Frankie Goes To Hollywood's first album and Adam & the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier he is lost. Both classic albums in my book, but this is the kind of revelation that will surely have Cod Almighty's editors despatching Smiths and Leonard Cohen albums across the Irish Sea. Anyway, he is clearly familiar with at least one song off of Joel's Storm Front.

Kings of the Wild Frontier was released in 1980 and therefore coincided with what Wicklow and many of us might recall as arguably Town's greatest ever team, gaining a second consecutive promotion as champions of Division Three. This led to me wondering if there might be some correlation between the club's fortunes and the pop charts.

Don't ask me about music released this year though, as I have absolutely no idea about that kind of thing. I can't even ask my daughter as she is in France with the Guides and, due to me being wary of roaming charges, she won't answer her phone as I told her she'd have to pay any bills she runs up.

Our last promotion year, 1998, gave us superb albums by the Beastie Boys, Pulp and Massive Attack, while 1991 was loaded with classics from Primal Scream, Nirvana, Soundgarden, R.E.M. and My Bloody Valentine. It's all subjective though, and of course there's no real correlation; otherwise I might be looking to link our relegation in 2010 with the release of Justin Bieber's first album. It would be nice to be able to blame someone else but we were quite simply awful.

Can you believe it's 13 years since we last played Sheffield United? Could it be a league fixture in 2017-18?

But I do wonder if the music and other cultural reference points might colour our memories to some extent. 1972 was absolutely stuffed full of classic albums by David Bowie, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Lou Reed and many more. Does this perhaps explain why many position Lawrie McMenemy as Town's greatest manager ahead of Alan Buckley? One to ponder while we wait for some contract news, maybe?

Ah yes, contract news. New signings. We have a friendly against Sheffield United on 23 July and unless we are planning a game of five-a-side then we probably need to get busy on that front. United will be desperately hoping for a better season than last and have replaced Nigel Adkins with former player Chris Wilder, who last year led Northampton to the fourth division title.

The long-suffering Blades fans' only recent consolation has been their local rivals losing out to Hull in the play-off final, and they will be expecting to come away from Blundell Park with a win. A quick survey of their fans (I texted my cousin Andy) tells us that the recent clear-out of 17 players at Bramall Lane was badly needed and that they have some great prospects coming up through the ranks. Can you believe it's 13 years since we last played them? Could it be a league fixture in 2017-18?

[refreshes Twitter]

Nope, no signings yet, although I see Shola Ameobi is now a free agent. No thanks.

It was interesting to see Paul Hurst mentioning "non-traditional" clubs in the lower leagues having spending power to match those much higher up the leagues. While he wasn't specific in his interview, I reckon he was referring to Eastleigh signing defender Richard Duffy, who had been offered terms by third-flight Port Vale. Big money is clearly being pumped into teams with no guarantee of success.

[F5, F5]

Still nothing official I'm afraid, although Adebayo Akinfenwa is now apparently 14/1 to be a Town player next season.  The odds would be a lot shorter if we had a different kit manufacturer, of course; there is absolutely no way he's going to fit in an Errea shirt.

[One last go... F5]

Yes! James McKeown, you beauty! 

Congratulations Macca and congratulations to the gaffer and the club too. On that note, I'll bid you farewell. Up the Mariners!