Cod Almighty | Diary

Cod Almighty's fishing analogy quota

14 January 2020

The transfer news is that Laura Saxby, formerly of Grimsby Borough, has joined Grimsby Town Women. The transfer speculation is that James Tilley is likely to join the Mariners today, and that Sunderland may be minded to send Ethan Robson back our way. Watch some other space on that.

Perhaps not the official site though, which has been somewhat shy lately. We know that Robson and Liam Gibson have returned to their parent clubs, but only from radio interviews. We know that the youth side lost 2-1 at Fleetwood on Saturday, but from the Fleetwood site. Those who think it is Cod Almighty's job to be cheerleaders are preparing a joke about the official site knowing they only have to share good news, as they can rely on us to give the negative, so Domestic Diary will save them the trouble.

Back to the transfers. A 30-something striker surplus to requirements elsewhere. One (so far, but carry on watching that space...) academy product with little or no first team experience. A leaning towards players who have played under the manager before. There is nothing new there. Michael Jolley, Russell Slade and Marcus Bignot all leaned in similar directions. Nor is it surprising. A club with Town's budget are hardly likely to be competing with Liverpool, Luton or even Lincoln City for proven players at their peak.

What matters is the judgement with which we fish the limited pools available to us. On about 110 minutes' worth of evidence from Saturday, Ian Holloway has excellent judgement. Billy Clarke of course scored with a very well-taken goal. As for Anthony Glennon, Daubney Diary's appraisal reads thus:

"He looked like he'd played 100 games, which is odd for an academy player. He was talking and instructing players around him. You could see why he's captain at Burnley. Plus they put a monster on the wing against him. Didn't bother him."

If Tilley signs then, look past the record of 39 league appearances with no goals at Brighton, Cork City and Yeovil Town (He seems to be a cup specialist when it comes to scoring.) There is a decent chance that Holloway knows what he is doing.

That's a theme Jase Ives expands on here. It's a fine article so go read it. Bye.