Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Tuesday 18 May 2004
18 May 2004
If there's an expression that means the opposite of 'the icing on the cake' then Town fans could soon be searching frantically for it, as Graham Hockless - practically the sole redeeming feature of the most horrible season in living memory - is being linked with a move across the Humber to East Yorkshire outfit Kingston Communications. Two weeks after the Diary learned that the player's agent has received enquiries from other clubs, the Hull Daily Mail quotes Hockless as "not happy" with the offer of a new contract made by GTFC last week and also cites speculation about a move to Doncaster, who beat Hull to the third division title by four points. "Until my agent tells me about any concrete offers it is purely speculation and nothing more than that," says the 21-year-old wing wonder misleadingly. The player, of course, grew up in Hull and was on the Tahgers' books as a youngster before getting released for being too small. You'd think they'd have spotted that straight away, really, wouldn't you; although it sounds plausible enough given that most of the supposedly football-supporting population of his home city have no apparent interest in the sport when it is played in a small stadium.
From bitter pills to sour grapes, but staying with pint-sized wingers, as the Diary is compelled to record John Oster's penalty miss in last night's first division play-off semi-final second leg between Sunderland and Crystal Palace. The absurdly nicknamed Black Cats exited the promotion lottery on pens after the two sides finished extra time level on goals (though not away goals, but for some reason they don't matter in the play-offs), and their first spot-kick of the night was fluffed by the lad who sealed Town's 2002-03 relegation by reneging on an agreement to move back to Blundell Park permanently. I think he might even have done one of those cocky-bastard stop-start run-ups, reckoning he's Thierry Henry and all that; but I was still half asleep when I saw it on Breakfast this morning.
Iain Ward and Chris Bolder are two more names missing from Town's retained list and follow Wes Parker and several senior counterparts through Blundell Park's out door this summer. Bolder has mostly failed to live up to expectations since being intercepted at the airport last summer in a spectacular James Bond-style stunt to award him a new contract; while Ward, who failed to make the first team in the 2003-04 season, is believed to be off to uni anyway.
An anonymous email to the Diary asks: "Have you seen the 'Codalmighty has got it wrong' thread on www.gtfc-fans.co.uk?" I haven't, actually, because the Diary doesn't tend to bother reading messageboards, but let's have a look... right... so let's paraphrase: last Friday, Guest Diary wrote that Town had no chance of being reinstated to Division Two if Bradford or the Franchise go bust, because of FA or League rules or whatever; and somebody else says, no, they do, really. Well, I'll leave this one for GD to take up on Friday if he can be arsed. As far as I'm bothered, if that preposterous sham of a football club down in Milton Keynes is smashed into dust, as it so clearly deserves to be, then there will be much rejoicing and happiness in Chez Diary - entirely regardless of any hypothetical or real knock-on effects for GTFC.
A somewhat less anonymous email to the Diary comes from Simon Wilson. "In Friday's Diary," he writes, "you list a Town team with the shirt numbers 1 to 11. Don't you miss such traditional numbering? Does dropping to Division Three mean we can bring it back? What is the point in squad numbers? And it's not as if we can see the players' names on the back of their shirts either." In order: yes; no; I don't know; and you're right. "Also, the club should think of the savings. In the season just gone they would have used at least 37 shirts (double if you include an away kit?), and then there's the unused subs. A switch back to 1 to 11, plus the five subs numbers = savings. Easy." Do you miss proper team numbering, or do you think Si just has too much time on his hands? Email diary@codalmighty.com with your thoughts and obscene spam. Si also points out that I "forgot to mention that Danny Coyne came for the last 12 minutes of the Arsenal-Leicester game, and making two really great stops in that period." Either he's missed a word out there, or the Custard Custodian has gone tantric.