Cod Almighty | Diary

Half the blasted idiots have gone to Yugoslavia

20 July 2016

Another friendly, another struggle for Paul Hurst's new-look Town side to trouble the scoresheet – though in last night's 1-1 draw at Boston United, Tom Bolarinwa at least troubled the woodwork once or twice. Now that pre-season kickabouts are priced to raise money for the clubs, and Mrs Diary is back at work and I'm paying more for three days a week of nursery than I pay on the sodding mortgage, your original/regular Diary is too skint to attend friendlies these days. But it sounds like there's still some way to go before this GTFC team will be where they need to be. There you go – now watch them beat Sheffield United 3-0 this Saturday.

Season ticket sales, new signings, and friendlies are all well and good, but once matchday tickets go on sale, that's when you can really start to smell and taste a new season, isn't it? From next Monday Town fans can buy theirs for the curtain-raiser at home to Morecambe and subsequent trip to Derby in the League Cup. Given the aforesaid financial restrictions under which I currently operate, I am chuffed to bits to be able to enter Pride Park for only a tenner. I am also moderately amazed to see a further discount for GTFC season ticket holders, who can watch the Derby game for just £7. A season ticket holder discount for an away game? Is this a first?

Oh, and as if the nursery fees weren't challenging enough, by the way, my job is already under threat because of the EU referendum result, so I expect to be at fewer GTFC matches than ever next season. One thing I will splash some hard-earned on, however, is Operation Promoted – the DVD telling the story of the 2015–16 season released by the Mariners Trust. I struggle a bit to get into lengthy highlights videos, if I'm honest, but when I need something to help me through the grown-up night terrors, this is something I want on my shelf next to the Kathleen Jamie poems and the bottle of Jura Elixir. The trust hasn't quite managed to make the product highly visible on its website just yet, so here's a link to take you straight there.

Last up today, there's clearly no way at all that Ollie Palmer is coming back to Blundell Park, but here's a picture of him opening beer bottles with his teeth. I hope it pleases you as much as it pleases me.