Cod Almighty | Diary

A funny thing happened on the way to McMenemy's

20 September 2016

Devon Diary writes: Did you see Matt Dannatt's article in the Telegraph late on Friday? In it Paul Hurst explained that young Josh Venney and Max Wright will join Harry Clifton out on loan to gain some of that fabled game time which will make all the difference as they attempt to force their way into the first team. Clifton lined up for Grantham at the weekend as they lost 2-1 at home against Warrington and will be hoping to get another run-out tonight as the Gingerbreads visit Barwell (it's on the edge of Leicester).

Just how does that help a young player like Clifton make the jump from squad member to the Mariners team sheet when the gaffer always talks about a player's work in training? I dunno. Maybe it's something to ask at the fans' forum this evening. It's free and it's your chance to have your say so if you're at a loose end why not pop along? Joining his Fentiness will be fellow directors Philip Day and Jon Wood and Mariners Trust chair Terry Rudrum. Punters will be frisked on entry for smoke bombs and also for any legitimate, well-worded questions likely to make a major-shareholding panelist uneasy.

If you can't get there or maybe it's a bit cold out then you can tune in on Radio Humberside or Mariners Player. It all kicks off at 7pm. No, not like that.

This Saturday it's Town's 5000th game as the Mariners head away to Mansfield. To celebrate this milestone the fans have bought up the complete allocation of tickets, while the club has unleashed an utterly shameless pun along with an explanation of the science which helped us arrive at that figure.

As impressive as that figure is, it's mind-boggling to consider that one player took part in 15 per cent of those games. That player can only be John McDermott. We learnt last week that Macca's mother-in-law Ann has cancer and to raise some cash for Cancer Research he was about to auction a shirt. Not just any shirt though – this was the one the club presented to him to mark 750 appearances. When learning of this on Facebook, Town's fans couldn't bear to see the man parted from the shirt and persuaded him to do a fundraiser instead.

We've got form in this kind of thing, of course, and the target of £400 was smashed in no time. As I type this, the total stands just shy of £2500, which is bloody lovely, isn't it? If you want to chip in then you still can.

Elsewhere we learn that the next guest speaker to appear at McMenemy's will be former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton. What's Sutton's link with Town, you might wonder. What's going to make you shell out £45 to hear Mr Sutton's anecdotes while you wait for the coffee and mints? My thorough (cough) research confirms that he never played against us and until now might have only attended Blundell Park once before, then as manager of Lincoln during the 2009–10 season. Local bragging rights back then focused on which team picked up the fewer cards rather than football prowess, as there was precious little of that on display from either team during the season.

Although Sutton's charges didn't manage to beat Town, he did keep the Imps in the Football League, so if you're going to support this event then maybe you should skirt around that fact and just ask if his mate Alan ever mentioned Sergeant Whittle.

Whether you're going to the forum tonight or heading to Leicestershire to see young Harry play, take care and enjoy yourselves. Up the Mariners.