Cod Almighty | Diary

All Around my Arse!

21 March 2024

Bob Phlegming here to talk about Country Matters. But this week (cough, cough, cough) is a football special. I am a bit late getting to you gentle reader because of a mower that I serviced which refused to start. Old as I am it's never (cough...snip Diary Ed), never too late to learn that a dirty armature is not a good thing. But here I am, oily-fingered with a mug of steaming tea.

Big football league news this week solved a personal riddle. Whenever, as happens from time to time, social media Town fans ask folk to suggest their best ever Grimsby loanees I noticed that one particular young man who went on to have a decent career is never mentioned. My problem has been that I can see him in my minds eye as clear as day and had a good idea of roughly when it was but my addled brain stubbornly refused to give me his name. He only played a few games and you could see he had talent but to my jaundiced eye he was a bit on the slow side. It wasn't his tackling or passing m'lud it was the running about you see. Anyroad when the sports pages lit up with Liverpool's new signing as chief summat or other the name Richard Hughes re-connected my circuits. That was him.

Speaking of young midfield players, they need nurturing, just like cauliflowers. Cauliflowers like a quiet damp, mild life - too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry they will go in to a great big sulk. Various managers have tried to nurture Alex Hunt, there is such a player inside him, but teams can't carry him long enough to get it out. And he is running out of youth. Whether Town will have him back for one last go is debatable. But some of our other first team young players are doing really well, perhaps the ammonium sulphate applied to the pitch suits them? I hope we can sign the loanees that have worked so well, but time and events will tell.

Manager's Artell's mode switch seems to have been hardwired to tested production only. That extreme alpha test start has dimmed in our collective memory. A little unbeaten run will do that. A sellout game on Saturday - the only empty seats on view will be those not given back by non-attending season ticket holders. Do not be one of them - if you have a ticket and can't go make sure someone else does, eh?

My last words are in memory of buggerlugs Harley who has left the Human Menagerie to go on a death trip. Bardney came too early for him but I liked him at the Winter Gardens in 73. See yer.