Cod Almighty | Other stuff
A list of nicknames with a GTFC association for your reference. Some familiar. Some merely used in passing in Tony B's match reports that, unlike Town, are too good to lose. With the exception of the legendary Macca, we haven't included any shortened surname nicknames, so apologies to your Woodsies and your Cockerses. Who knows, if there's enough of a clamour, we may cave on this. I mean it's just a list of nicknames, hard and fast rules would be a bit silly and extreme. Should you wish add to these or start a clamour, please use the Cod Almighty feedback page. Ta.
Ak-Ak
Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro. His brother plays for Lazio and is sure to be in contention for a place with the likes of Marco Gabbiadini, and Richard Brodie's brother (not sure if he even has a brother, let alone one who plays football but we'll take our chances) in the Wish We'd Signed His Brother Instead XI when we finally get around to it.
Alex May
Alick Kapikanya. Convicted fraudster who emerged from prison and set up business with John Fenty. Also known as Alick Mayweather with future names coming to a Companies House registration near you soon.
Aussie Antman
Anthony Limbrick
Blond Bob, The
Rob Atkinson
Bodge Mountain
George Mountain, 1901 Championship team
Brighton Belle, The
James Tilley
Cannonball Cockerill
Ron Cockerill. A Mariners legend. Broke Blundell Park nets on a regular basis in the 1960s as verified by CA dads who attended in the era.
Capelli Scuri Disley
Andrea Pirlo
Chairman Wow
Jason Stockwood, too good not to use even if actually a Chair and not a Chairman
Calmer Giles
Giles Coke. Veteran midfielder who showed poise and panache in the losing battle of 2021.
Cockles Appleyard
William Appleyard. Born in Cleethorpes in 1878 and one of six brothers with the others having nicknames of Dibber, Smatcher, Baggy, Garnish and Gabbuck. Cockles was a true Mariner, having worked as a fisherman before playing for Town. Scored loads for Newcastle where he went by Tich and Burly Bill. How do we know all this? Town historian Dave Wherry, that's how. Thanks, Dave.
Crazy Legs
Tony Crane
Dean O'Henderson
Former Town loanee, also Man Utd and England goalie.
Diddy
Dave Gilbert. Named for his size and not the CA rumour that he moonlighted as a member of Ken Dodd's Diddymen in Skegness.
Digger
David Soames. Why Digger? The 30 Dec 2002 diary entry has the answer: "The former Toll Bar School pupil has been known as Digger since the age of six months", the GT informs us, "when his uncle gave him the nickname because he never stopped digging with his hands." Well, there we go. An unusual moniker, but it could have been worse. He might have been David 'Stop Ruining My Bastard Garden You Little Bugger' Soames.
Diana
Tony Daws
DJ Jinky
Diallang Jaiyesimi
Dracula
Rhys Wilmot. Buckley I era goalie who bore a passing resemblance to the famous vampire, and was also terrified of crosses.
Echo
Phil Bonnyman. Quite brilliant, yet puzzling if not famiiar with a certain 1980s Liverpudlian pop band, nickname used by fans and teammates of the midfielder. Proof that we didn't imagine it is found in this video of him playing golf with Joe Waters. Obviously.
Don't worry, these boys were better at football than golf. #GTFC pic.twitter.com/6146ImD09a
— On this GTFC day.... (@onthisGTFCday) August 26, 2019
Eddie, Eddie the Eagle
Steve Saunders. SWWF cover boy and striker. With his Eddie the Eagle looks and his awful finishing, had been a figure of fun at Blundell Park. This was replaced with cult status during the genesis 1988-89 season.
Fanny Lakey
Tom Lakey, 1901 Championship team
Flash
Darren Mansaram
Fen Butcher, The
Ben Futcher. Son of Futchenstein.
Freemo
Mark Flatts. Made football history when he joined Town on loan in 1996, becoming the first player to be signed for nickname purposes alone.
Freezer
Marc "Freezer" (Jolly) Goodfellow. Wordplay based moniker, very similar to defender Fitz Hall, who didn't play for Town, but was labelled "One Size".
Frenchman, The
Thomas Pinault. Listen for yourself.
Fridge Magnet, The
John Fenty.
Futchenstein
Paul Futcher, as coined and illustrated by the briliant Jim Connor in Sing When We're Fishing
Ginger Pirlo
Craig Disley
Gurning Gavin
Gavin Gunning. Thuggish centre half occasionally deployed by Marcus Bignot in midfield, apparenty as the result of a pre-match game of truth or dare that got out of hand.
Happy Nelmes
Alfred Nelmes, 1901 Championship team
Head on a Stick
Peter Crouch
Heggggarty
Nick Hegarty
Hobart Hurricane
see Aussie Antman
Human Double Wardrobe
Luke Maxwell
Invisible Man, The
Stuart Campbell
Jamey Mack
James McKeown, the leader at the back
Jeffrey and Bungle
Mike Jeffrey and Daryl Clare, famously ineffective strikeforce under Alan Buckley
Jones the Stick
Rob Jones. Aka The Stick, The Stick of Rock and, after a couple of missed headers/tackles, The Rickety Sock.
Jones the Lump
see Lump, Lumpaldinho
Kitten, The
Steve Croudson. Coined following his MOTM clean sheet debut as a 19 year old against big-spending, free-scoring ne'er do wells, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Lounge King, The
Strapping, unflustered centre-half, David Longe-King. "The Lounge King stretched out on his chaise-longue at the near post to nod clear a flashing cross"
Lump, Lumpaldinho, Sir Lumpalot
Gary Jones
Macca
John McDermott. NOT James McKeown
Maximum Wright
Turbo-charged local hero, Max Wright
MRI Scan-nell
MRI is a tag frequently associated with the star permacrock. This player's reputation typically soars whilst on the sidelines and if he's out long enough, fans begin to regard him as Joe Waters and Clive Mendonca rolled into one. Present incumbent is the aptly named Sean Scannell.
North Bank Nit, The
Carl Boyeson
Oh Leary
Michael O'Leary
Penis Peter Sweeney
Peter Sweeney. GTFC media guy Dale "what type of left back are you?" Ladson is often mocked for using the same three questions in every interview. This rigid and scripted apparoch may be a direct result of once asking "Is Penis Peter Sweeney better than this division?".
Pet Shop Boy
Phil Day, retired solicitor and part-time pet shop owner. Also occasionally known as The Fridge Magnet's Superb New Official Beard and P-Diddy.
Plug
Mark Lever
Pope, The
Jon-Paul Pittman
Quick Mick
Mick Boulding. Striking speedster who was also an ATP ranked tennis player. Fact!
Rainbow Alliance
see Jeffrey and Bungle
R-R-R-Ravenhill
Ricky Ravenhill
Riverdancer
Michael Reddy, Jamie Devitt among others. Possibly offensive but well-intentioned generalisation given to nimble-footed tricksters with Irish roots or Irish sounding names
Shaunmower, The
Shaun Pearson. Combining a nod to Shaun's playing style and a tribute to the late Shaun Mawer.
Shop, The
Lenell John-Lewis. Cuddly wrecking-ball beloved by Paul Hurst and all sensible GTFC fans. Sometimes referred to as the Happy/Unhappy Shopper and variants such as "...the Happy Shopping Trolley continued to accidentally collide with passing balls near goal."
Shouty and Shorty
Paul Hurst and Rob Scott. The two headed beast that was Rob Scott and Paul Hurst. Not to be mistaken with "Rob Hurst" as John Fenty once referred to his manager
Smudger
Proving that not all nicknames are imaginative, affectionate or in some way significant, this tag was bestowed on Smiths, Mark, Richard and David.
Space Cadet
Simon Ford
Spiderlegs, Spiderlegs on Stilts
Semi-regular thorn in Town's side, Nathan Blissett
Star
Jackie Bestall, as referred to by Pat Glover in Charles Buchan's Football Monthly November 1955 - Issue 51
Sticky Robdale
Robbie Stockdale
Straight Peter Bore
Peter Bore. "What's this in-joke about 'Straight' Peter Bore? The endless repetition has got boring. Not h*m*ph*b*a, I hope?" was a question received in our postbag a few years ago. For the explanation, we turned to the one and only original Diary who took us back to his entry of 6 February 2007: "Not homophobia, no: in fact, it's a mild rebuke to Bore's own soft homophobia, which emerged the other year when the player's Myspace profile came to light. In this, Bore bravely came out as a screaming hetero by deeming it necessary to describe his sexual orientation as not merely straight but 'STRAIGHT!'". So there.
Swappy Leigh
Walter Leigh. 1901 Championship team
Swerver
Charlie Craven. As referred to by Pat Glover in Charles Buchan's Football Monthly November 1955 - Issue 51
Top Con John
See Fridge Magnet, The
Tombola
Tom Bolarinwa. Unproven 26 year-old non-Leaguer who was given a three-year deal by Top Con John in the same week Podge Amond was offered a one-year deal. Memorable for being integral to the "Tom Bolarinwa, he plays for the Grimsby, with Bogle and Disley" chant to the tune of La Bamba/Twist and Shout, sung for 17 minutes solid at Cambridge in 2016.
Tug
In March 1931, Town signed utility player Charles Wilson, to go with the right half turned right back Charles Wilson who had been at the club for eight years. Luckily for future historians, the new Wilson came with a built-in nickname, "Tug".
Wolds Panther, The
Charles Vernam. Also spawned the verb to vernam as in 'Charles pick-pocketed the hesitant left back and vernamed past the covering defender with the ball.' Not to be confused with Manny Panther.
Who deserves to be added to our nickname wall of fame? Let us know. Thank you to James Leeman, Al Wilkinson and Kevin Laister for their contributions. Thanks also to Dan Humphrey for his suggestions and a pointer to his article from 2006 that covered GTFC nicknames and linguistics in general.