Cod Almighty | Diary

If it isn't hurting, Carl Boyeson isn't doing his job

16 March 2017

Middle-Aged Diary must confess that were I in Grimsby on Saturday afternoon I'd be very tempted to give Town a miss for once and go cheer Cleethorpes on their way in the FA Vase semi-final second leg. That game is all-ticket so if you are thinking about it, don't wait too long to decide. Should the Owls progress to Wembley, they could find themselves up against the Mariners: South Shields FC, from Mariners Park.

I wonder if the Owls had a spike in ticket sales when it was announced that Carl Boyeson will be officiating Town's match against Crawley. The Hull-based ref was in charge of three Grimsby matches around a decade ago. In a League Cup game in 2003, he sent off Des Hamilton and Marcel Cas in a defeat by Doncaster. Then in 2005, he sent off another two players and awarded Darlington two penalties in a 1-0 defeat.

The rumour is that Boyeson is a Hull fan. There is another possibility. The players he sent off against Darlington were Tony Crane and Tom Newey. If on Saturday he ushers the captain and an excess central defender into a huddle and is seen to mouth: "Your choice, I can send this man off, or he can go play on the left wing. Which is it to be?" then we'll know: Boyeson is actually the Pontoon's Mr Angry.

Boyeson has a prominent place in the list of Grimsby hate figures. And as it's time we had some input from you, let's see if we can get the definitive list of them.

Two rules. They must not have been employed by Grimsby Town, or else we won't get past Mike Lyons and Barry Conlon. And their vindictiveness must be specifically targeted at Town, so unless you can prove that Shaun Harvey is intent on wrecking the Football League only because Grimsby are now in it, leave him out.

I'll offer you two more to get you started. Dave Challinor, after his marriage to a late-1980s singer-songwriter and his career-ending tackle on Martin Pringle, changed his name to Dave Challinor-Boo. Then there are the fans of Tranmere Rovers who gloated when we went down at Prenton Park in 2004, perhaps remembering we had effectively killed off their season (and indeed Steve Livingstone pretty nearly killed their goalkeeper) two years before.

Let's hear your suggestions for more Grimsby hate figures.