Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 3 May 2004

3 May 2004

Quintessential Town lump Tony Crane, of whom any Californians visiting Blundell Park might be forgiven for observing: "That is one big-ass defender!", will miss his team's crucial final outing of the season at Tranmere next Saturday after his booking at Stockport on 24 April took his yellow cards tally for the season to a nice round 15 to go with his two reds. The Prenton Park game - in which the Mariners must match or better the points gained by Rushden and Chesterfield on the same day in order to stay up - will be the eighth this season where the Mariners have had to get by without Crane's distinctive style of play; and supporters will mostly be hoping that Paul Warhurst is preferred to Simon Ford as a replacement in the heart of the defence.

Another positive omen ahead of the trip to the Wirral comes in the form of a manager of the month award for Tranmere boss Brian Little. As Division Two's current form side, Rovers took 16 points from a possible 18 in April. "Had their run come a little earlier, I am sure Tranmere might have sneaked into the play-offs," is the script handed to some suit from the building society that sponsors the Football League in an effort to make it look like he knows anything about football.

"I first saw him when I was with Chesterfield. We played against Huddersfield and he absolutely tore our left-back to pieces. He could not handle him whatever he did... He's a natural wide man. He has pace to burn... He needs to come here and prove his worth and that's the type of player we are looking for... He is a good age and a good pedigree and is here for the right reasons." Less than two months after Nicky Law made John Thorrington sound like the Second Coming, the player is out of Blundell Park and looking for a new club, having managed just two starts for the Mariners. Fans pointed out when Thorrington arrived that there seemed little point signing him when we already had Graham Hockless, and one presumes, now that Law has finally got round to watching the reserves, that he has at last realised the same thing.

Thorrington's departure reminds the Diary of the reason given by Peter Furneaux for making Law manager: that Graham Rodger "needed to bring in other players" but "didn't have the connections". Of the four players the Bouncer has brought in, two have been useless and only Jamie Lawrence looks like making any kind of meaningful contribution to Town's survival bid. Mr Furneaux, if you've lost Alan Buckley's phone number, then Cod Almighty can pass it on to you.