Cod Almighty | Diary

Take them to our hearts, though we may not see them

9 October 2020

Joe Waters. Neil Woods. Wayne Burnett. Zhang Enhua. Andy Todd. Steve Kabba. Martin Paterson. Dean Henderson. Loan players that have a special bond with the fans of Grimsby Town. Players that weren't ours (initially, in some cases), but who we treated as one of our own.

Of course, for every Dave Beasant, there's a Tommy Forecast and the A - Z of failed loanees is pretty long (Alabi, Allaway, Ameobi...), but when a loan player works out by firing goals or stopping shots it's a satisfying situation for player, both clubs and the fans. In recent seasons the likes of Elliott Embleton, Josh Benson and Anthony Glennon have, for Thunderdiary, donned the stripes to positive effect, while pros such as Luke Hendrie started off being borrowed before signing permanently.

Town now have six loan players in their squad, as Kyle Bennett and Owen Windsor join from Bristol Rovers and West Bromwich Albion respectively. Holloway is delighted with Bennett, hailing him as a "coup" and revealing we are paying only a fraction of his (reported £4,500 per week) wages. Windsor is a "bull of a centre forward" and if he repeats half the form of his stablemate Callum Morton on loan at Northampton last year, we might see some goals.

Town's sextuplets won't all be able to feature at the same time however, as the League's 'Rule of 5' means one will miss out against Bolton tomorrow. My money is on Terry Taylor.

It is a sign of the times that Town are relying on loanees. With no cash coming in other than through iFollow for the foreseeable, it is perhaps prudent. However, for a Town fan bereft of live action, the amount of new faces that we don't own and we probably will never actually see means these signings get an abject response at best.

So who else will line up tomorrow? Well the Bradford conspiracy theorists were seemingly right and Holloway has a bumper squad to pick from. The aforementioned Hendrie will slot back in at right back and there may be a place - if not a start - for James Hanson. The hosts won their first game last week and will be looking to capitalise on the lack of match fitness in Town's legs.

Phillip Day's communications with Radio Humberside have been timely and coherent and you can ask him about loan signings live on air after the match tomorrow.

Whether the new boys are more Martin Pringle than Ben Pringle is to be revealed.