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Diary - Friday 30 April 2004

30 April 2004

Oh, sorry. You catch me in the middle of sifting through all the emails I've received this week that I have put to one side To Deal With Later. Take this one for example: 'Britain On The Move', promoting some ITV campaign encouraging people to walk more as - apparently - Britain is becoming an ever more obese country. How the hell did this get past ITV's advertisers? A campaign to make people walk more means they won't be sat on their comfy settees (and arses) watching ITV's commercial-laden crap (apart from The Bill, which is ace). And given that the pockets of several Carlton and Granada bigwigs have swelled enormously recently, isn't this moralising a bit rich (ho, ho)?

Ah yes, welcome to today's Diary, being written in record time from Cod Almighty's Leeds office as no-one else is around to write it. Plus I want to get to the pub. So, for a change, the Diary has done some research and got in touch with various Grimsby-related people to see what news they have, if only in an attempt to get the Diary to write itself with some judicious copy-and-pastes. Only two of those got back to me, so before we hear what they have to say let's have a quick nip round the World Of Grimsby.

Graham Rodger calls for, like the midwife at my daughter's birth, "one big push" from - unlike my daughter's birth - both the fans and the players. "I honestly believe that our fans are always worth a goal at Blundell Park," says the assistant boss. He doesn't specify whether it's the goal at the Ponny end of the ground or the Osmond though. The Rodger goes on explaining: "There was one or two heated moments [in training] today... it shows that the players are up for it." By 'it' let's hope he means the match on Saturday and not a massive drinking session at the Dark Drain tonight. The team news is that Barney, the Stace, and Jase Crowe are carrying knocks but don't worry - they should be fit. Phew. And there could be a surprise return for Jamie Lawrence, which can only be a good thing - something I didn't think I would have said when he first arrived.

In preparation for what seems to be a mighty demand for when Town's stylish new shirt goes on sale at the club shop tomorrow morning (as seen right with one of the two massive Mariner's Pies made to mark the sponsorship), the club is flogging off all the shirts bearing the previous sponsor's logo for only a fiver. By the way, did you know that over four million Mariners Pies were sold last year? Fact.

Talking of the new kit, over at the club's official message board the question being asking is: red or black stockings? Regular readers of Cod Almighty know there is only one answer - as our friends at CAMRED will vouch for. Even though there has already been a photoshoot with the players decked out in black socks, the club is willing to listen to the fans on this pertinent issue. At the time of writing red was edging out black with 73 per cent of the vote, but don't let that lead stop you from exercising your democratic right. You know what to do, people.

And on to the fudged-together section of the diary. For those who can't make the game or are contemplating their listening before and after it, David Burns sends words from Radio Humberside's plush new offices, which seem to now have access to that interweb thing:

"BBC Radio Humberside's commentary team is preparing for the match (commentary on 1485AM and our new digital radio service), John Tondeur is searching out his lucky trousers, four leaf clover and rabbit's foot (some of the players appear to have rabbit's feet!). John will be joined by former Town manager George Kerr and our reporter Amanda Thomson will be amongst the fans (probabaly in the Imp before the game) to gauge their reaction. We'll hear from Graham Hockless, Darren Barnard, Nicky Law, John McDermott and Peter Furneaux ahead of kick-off. Saturday Sport starts at 1:30 and the Football Forum for the fans' phone calls is from five."

Meanwhile, stalwart Lincolnshire Today journo Sam Metcalf is pressing the claims of 80s John Hughes film (a movie genre in its own right) Pretty In Pink ("I love it. It's got an ace soundtrack, too"), which he bought in a Virgin sale ("Rosemary's Baby was 99p!"), arguing the merits of its allegedly minxy starlet ("Molly Ringwald's got the best name in the world, EVER!"). I was more of an Ally Sheedy man myself. Or boy, as the case was when I was 12.

Which leaves us to finish off with this week's refwatch:

Taking charge of the Mariners' final home game of the season will be Mr Nigel Miller. With 59 yellow cards in 26 games - averaging 2.27 bookings per game - Mr Miller is one of the more restrained officials in the league. Taking into account only the eight division two games he has officiated, this figure drops to a flat 2.0, with one red card. With this weekend's game a heated relegation battle, expect this average to rise somewhat.

In his first season as a league referee, the County Durham official will be taking charge of his first Mariners game. So far this season, Mr Miller has overseen the home team win 12 times, draw eight, and lose six. In his Division Two matches the home team has won and drawn three times, and lost twice.

Right. Time's up. Time to walk to the pub. Hey, I guess you could say I'm on the move, hee hee hee. At the last minute news reaches me that the lad who sits behind me at work has put a quid on Town to be down at half-time but to win the game. Cheers for that, Steve, ye of little faith.

If you want to drop the Diary a line just wing those missives to diary@codalmighty.com and the regular Diary can deal with them. And - hey! - up the Mariners!