The Diary

Cod Almighty | Diary

Marking the days

8 June 2021

Apparently lots of popular websites are down, so that's Cod Almighty put in its place.

Perhaps we are too far ahead of the times to be fashionable. Certainly one or two other local sources seem to have just caught on to something in the last few months that CA writers had been mentioning - just now and again, with tact and discretion - for a few years now. We are putting the finishing touches to the next instalment of Mark Stilton's epic John Fenty retrospective, to be accompanied this week by further revelations from the accounts unearthed by Tony Butcher. It should be on your screens tomorrow, so set aside some time and a fortifying drink.

The nearest we have to news is a watch this space announcement on season tickets and other ticketing deals, so Middle-Aged Diary will return once again to the shone in adversity XI: players who performed well even as their team was relegated, and who went down with the ship. After last week's entry, Jim Buckle tweeted that "definitely Georges Santos should be in there", leaving us with three positions to fill: right back, goalkeeper and a forward to play alongside Clive Mendonca.

Joe Turner has suggested Phil Jevons and Michael Boulding from the 2003-04 season, but let's come back to forwards another time. Rob McIlveen seconds the nomination of Dave Booth at right back. We'll shelve that as well, but it's time we had a goalkeeper. Rob also points out that "Charles Ekberg makes a good case for George Tweedy in the last season Town were in the 'premier league' (1947-48). 111 goals against could easily have been 200 if not for Tweedy, apparently."

So we have, in chronological order:

  • George Tweedy, the balding England international, who most of are going to have to take Ekberg's word about
  • Harry Wainman, the England youth international and hotelier, who may or may not have been in good form in 1976-77 but certainly prevented an avalanche of goals at Graham Taylor's Lincoln City
  • Steve Sherwood, uncapped but surely given the keys to the towns of Watford and Grimsby, whose penalty save in the penultimate game of 1987-88 was just one highlight of last-ditch defending, keeping our hopes alive to the last game
  • Danny Coyne, the eternally boyish Wales international, on whom some quick digging in old 2002-03 match reports has failed to unearth any treasure, but I bet there was some.

I've got a prejudice in favour of all four, so this one is going over to you.