Cod Almighty | Diary

Breezy, like a new pair of pants

3 July 2025

From Rimini to Ramsdens — the past couple of days have had it all. The club’s crack PR team went into overdrive and threw all kinds of good newsy stuff our way over the past 48 hours, to the point where I’m not sure if your West Yorkshire Diary has the time or memory to cover it all.

You name it, the club’s been announcing it. They’ve bashed through a pair of grand wooden doors holding aloft a silver platter upon which everything they’ve announced is stacked high in an almost impossible triangle. Ambassador, with these shirts, sponsorships and signings you are really spoiling us.

And Jaze-us! Are Jamestown Irish or something? It’s been scraping and mining football data in that part of the world a fair bit recently — well, Taunton and Blackburn. Which might not be in Ireland. And the Scottish-sounding McJannet is English, having played in Derry, which, you know, is that part of Ireland where… ah, I’m out of my depth. There’s just a lot of Irishness floating around the club right now, so there is.

Zak’s path to Grimsby is a well-trodden one — you know, from Western Australia to Barcelona, a splash of Liverpool, a dash of Blackburn, and then on to the Costa Del Cleethorpes for some fish 'n' chips and crazy golf. The Aussie Irishman’s going to be linking up with the Icelander and the Hungarian Faroe maestro in this small corner of Lincolnshire. It's multiculturism in all its glory, proof that diversity adds more than it takes. Don’t believe truth social. Don’t believe fake news. Just believe what you see.

If you are of a certain generation, the Findus will always be the Findus. But for a while, at least, there will be an effort to call it the Ramsdens (‘Ramsdens Home Interiors' doesn’t stand a chance, I'm afraid). I've already seen it referred to as the ‘Upper Rammy’ and ‘Lower Rammy’ on a WhatsApp group, so this stand may have legs, baby.

But if you really want a name to stick, it can’t be a location that exists elsewhere. Ramsdens is just down the road. But don’t let my unfair cynicism detract from what is another honourable, household, wholesome sponsorship. The kit and the Park are backed by local businesses, which turns the wheel that a community like North East Lincolnshire needs to strengthen and grow its local economy for a better future.

It's everything Jason Stockwood said he wanted the club to be. UTM!