Cod Almighty | Diary

Don't think this is all I've got

21 May 2019

The only list of released players you need is surely the one with the former Burnley players. Good afternoon to you – original/regular Diary here, with a round-up of nothing very much from the bottom of the close-season barrel.

First up today, John Fenty has updated the great unwashed about his ongoing efforts to secure 'new investment' for the club – for which, read "find some other chump to chuck their money down a massive black hole so I pull mine back out and sack the whole bloody thing off forever because I secretly know I'm way out of my depth and I need an out ASAP".

Whatever the non-chairman's other faults (and we really must update the list sometime), I tend to believe him when he suggests that he won't hand over to just anyone and he wants to make sure GTFC won't be subject to the sort of appalling mismanagement or exploitation that have driven other Football League clubs to the brink of oblivion. It seems, however, that Fenty is holding potential buyers to higher standards than those to which he himself appears to aspire. It is absolutely a good thing to make sure the next owner of Grimsby Town Football Club has a business plan. But doing so begs the irresistible question of why the current one doesn't.

Meanwhile, as everyone who believed that "50 points and Fenty is off" rumour crawls away to feel very silly indeed, GTFC have invited fans to tweet holiday selfies featuring GTFC replica shirts. This seems to me quite a reasonable way to while away the yawning silence until Michael Jolley starts reeling in new players and we can all form unrealistic expectations for the 2019-20 campaign. It also reminds me a bit of when Cod Almighty readers emailed us their selfies featuring Cod Almighty T-shirts.

This was before they were actually called selfies, but we did end up with some amazing shots of Town fans wearing our wares in places like Switzerland, Toronto and Las Vegas. And we published this remarkable image of a group of Town fans who were members of the armed forces serving in Basra, Iraq shortly before finding themselves on the receiving end of a rocket attack. Check out the CA archive for more.

Last up for now, occasional Cod Almighty contributor Pete Green is up to their old tricks in the Grimsby Telegraph, with a column about the Mariners' season ticket marketing 'strategy'. It's good to see someone pick up on the remarkable recent assertion by GTFC bean counter Steve Wraith that the procession of Liverpool and Tottenham to the Champions League final will mean more people will want to watch Grimsby Town.

Perhaps the club could go a step further and bolster the attendance in the first round of the League Cup by pointing out to the Grimsby Telegraph how well Wales did at Euro 2016. Next spring, when the GTFC issue a rallying cry for support as the epic battle for mid-table respectability culminates, perhaps Steve could pop up again to remind us of the exploits of Team GB in the London Olympics.

I dunno, what else do you want? Siriki Dembele's 16-year-old brother made his debut for Celtic two days ago? There you go, that'll probably be in the Telewag tomorrow. See ya.