Cod Almighty | Diary

I've read all the Waterfall puns but I think they're pour

16 August 2019

Well, will you Luke at that! That's right – your West Yorkshire Diary prefers to Luke past the obvious Waterfall puns (ooh – there it is again) because, secretly, I just want to be different. And, let’s face it, every Waterfall pun has probably been covered by the fans on the Fishy already.

This is the entirely expected news that Shrewsbury centre-back Luke Waterfall finally signed a two-year deal with the Mariners yesterday to add a bit more depth and experience to our backline.

Having played over 100 games for both Gainsborough Trinity and Lincoln City, Waterfall is one of the very few professional footballers in the leagues above us who sees our location as a reason to sign. He's also played for Scunny and was born in Sheffield so, you know, booo, Yorkshires. We might want to think again before drifting thoughtlessly into more anti-Yorkshire songs in the future, however, since some of our key players – and indeed our manager – hail from God's Own County. But that's no different from any other time in our recent history. I sometimes wonder how the likes of Mark Lever felt when we suggested he looked in the bin when he was hungry.

Town's new signing actually made his professional debut against the Mariners for Tranmere in a League Cup game back in 2008, if Wikipedia is to be believed. At 29, he's now into the best years of his career as a centre-back, so all in all it's a very smart piece of business by Michael Jolley. Welcome to the club, Luke. It appears, for the first time in a little while, that we're on an upward trajectory. Only a rogue statement from our majority shareholder can spoil the mood now.

Tomorrow the Mariners travel to Gloucestershire – the notorious hotbed of football talent, where the fans are passionate and the crowds are loud. Given this adversity, I really do hope Town don’t crumble against their illustrious opposition. History is on our side, though, as Town hold the upper hand with 10 wins from our 17 meetings. Rovers’ double over us last season, at an aggregate score of 7-1, bumped their number of victories from two to four. And there hasn’t been a 0-0 between us.

Along with meat, another thing that will be absent from tomorrow’s match is VAR. I positively detest the thing, and hope it never finds its way down to our level. If we ever find our way to its level, then... I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. VAR is the topic of this week’s Thundercliffe Files, and it’s well worth a read.

Enjoy the weekend.