Cod Almighty | Diary
Thursday Thirst for Knowledge?
24 February 2022
Since my last diary earlier this month, Glass Half-Full junior attended her first ever Town game, at home to Aldershot, and thankfully she enjoyed the experience. In particular the kids' section of the excellent The Mariner programme. Junior was terrified by the sheer volume caused by an early Town goal but I reassured her that's rare. Her favourite player scored twice (McAtee) so an all-round positive experience, but she's not a fan for life (yet). Understandably, unpleasant cold rain of a February late afternoon/early evening didn't impress.
And that, folks, was the last competitive fixture our Mariners played, almost two weeks ago thanks to the weather and Southend's powers-that-be combining to deny us a game last weekend. I mean, it could have been put back a few hours?
Due to anonymous striker injuries**(presumably a combination of Taylor, McAtee, Abrahams, Scannell or even Grant) we have signed a loanee with a lengthy name, specifically Emmanuel Dieseruvwe from Tranmere until the season's end.
**Stop Press: Breaking News, via Elliott Jackson's Twitter, is that winger fitness is an issue too again, with recent set backs for both Max Wright and Jordan Maguire-Drew.**
Despite the French-African sounding name, Mani was born in Leeds and started at the gaffer's beloved Sheffield Wednesday. Wiki tells us GTFC is his 12th (TWELFTH) club including loan spells. A cynic would note that he has almost as many clubs as goals scored, but Glass Half-Full remember. Our last 6 foot 5 loanee was Ryley Towler, if that's a good omen. The last Mani/Manny we had on the books was surely Manny Panther. (Remember him? Barely in my case.) We've moved on from Scottish Manny, to Yorkshire Mani. There was a Mani in the Stone Roses, don't ya know. There's a Second Coming joke in here somewhere.
Lenny's loan to York is another factor. For all you LJL fans, here is his record since heading out on loan. Games: three; postponements: two; sub appearances: one (14 minutes); goals: 12 (ok, I made that up, its zero, just kidding.) Let's hope Lenny starts and scores this weekend for York who host Marcus Bignot's Guiseley.
You can tell a lack of newsworthy items when such random digression/nonsense/nostalgia occurs. Not much happening in relation to much GTFC really. Here's a quick plug for the excellent recent DN35 Podcasts featuring Josh Gowling and Danny Butterfield, in particular. (You can find them via YouTube/Spotify/Facebook.) I always remember the Butterfield era as him emerging from a crop of youngsters (Clare, Bloomer, Chapman, etc.) who never quite seemed to flourish, never quite trusted by the bosses. Hmmm. Much like the last Hurst era perhaps?
Anyways, next up: I finally unveil my Shortest Name GTFC XI. The idea of this is for no apparent reason to form a GTFC XI using as few characters as possible. I suppose it would save on lettering costs for club and fans. Drum roll......
GK: Andy Love
DEFENCE: Iain Ward, Rob Jones, Andy Todd, Tom Newey
MIDFIELD: Tony Ford, Ben Fox(c), Alex Hunt, Seb Revan
ATTACK: Matt Tees, Jon Daly
(Total characters; 9x8 1x7 1x6 = 85)
Subs: Paul Reece (GK) Gary Lund, Jason Lee, Lee Nogan and Tony Rees
I've limited myself to players I've seen/remember, with the exception of the legend that is Matt Tees, and tried not to cheat and shoe-horn controversial shortened names like Kev Moore (legend). Although I realise Seb Revan might be pushing it a bit... It feels unfair to put Daly ahead of Rees or Lund, but he's got a shorter name. Also, my subs bench is a bit attack-heavy, but well, tough! Anyone else want to have a go at this, feel free! There are loads of nine-letter names if you get stuck. Answers to the usual address or twitter handle.
And, no, I've never heard him called Benjamin, so Fox is my captain with a six-letter name.
This weekend some local and other exiled Mariners will travel to Dover and, given their league position, hopefully with more joy on many levels than the abandoned Roots Hall trip. Dover have won ONE game all season and 'boast' a points deduction too, so are not mathematically relegated yet but... More about that in tomorrow's diary, no doubt. And then shortly thereafter we don't play Boreham Wood, because a week today they play Everton in that there FA Cup.
Here's hoping we can dispose of Dover, get us strikers and wingers recovered, and march into March. Until then, UTM!