Cod Almighty | Diary

There must be some way outta here said the joker to the thief

5 February 2026

Here I am, won't keep you long - the Grimsby football world is a calm peaceful haven unlike the ongoing political and royal scandals which kept me thoroughly entertained as I watched the seven hour soap opera debate in the Commons yesterday. Nobody does anguished faux-angry disappointment better than your MPs when faced with a brutal reality that the rest of the world has known about for donkeys. Mandelson, Fergie and Andrew? As Vic and Bob sang in their brilliant Eno/Wakeman skit "Just a lttle child in the gutter crawling towards some butter." All along the watchtower has never sounded more relevant and contemporary. Play it loud.

I was musing elsewhere on the site last week about change. The other big change I omitted (full disclosure; I got bored and stomped outside to sow some calabrese) was that in modern football no-one ever talks about Town's best team anymore. And that, in many circumstances, is a good thing surely. It means on any given matchday there are 18 named players who could all figure in the match without a noticeable drop in quality. And three or four more who didn't make the cut but who could genuinely make a case to be justifiably disappointed. No half-broken down journeymen conning a wage these days. It's a total credit to the owners, the management team and the recruiters.. No more "we need a this, a that and one of the other". We have two of all of them.

Ahead of Mr Artell's pre-match press intervew later today I can exclusively reveal that Newport are a good side and that Town have a very tough match in prospect. And on that bombshell I leave you as I need to go to Lidl to buy more popcorn. See yer.