You can't escape Frasier laughs by going on loan, Phil

Star: Kelsey Grammer
11 April 2012

What a start to the season. Only two weeks into our first campaign in League One, we've played in front of a 23,000 crowd at Hillsborough and a bit of Hollywood glamour has come to Dagenham.

Hillsborough was special. Although we lost 2-0, it was one of the best games I've played in in terms of atmosphere, probably even better than the League Two play-off final at Wembley last season. Even though the result wasn't great, it will stand us in good stead for the season to come.

Only six years ago, I was playing in front of crowds of 20 for White Ensign in the Essex Intermediate League. When I first signed for Dagenham, 2,000 was a big crowd for me, because I was used to one man and his dog being there for my games.

When Dagenham went to Wednesday, you could tell that the quality of the players was higher.

Clinton Morrison, Neil Mellor and Darren Purse are all established Championship players who have been in the Premier League.

But I feel confident I can do well at this level, just as I think we can do well as a team this season.

Our centre-forward Phil Walsh has just joined Barnet on loan and we suspect he's gone there to avoid the stick we were going to give him.

It turns out his sister, Kayte, is going out with Kelsey Grammer, the star of the American comedy series Frasier.

Phil has managed to keep it quiet for quite a while but he had to take a bit from the rest of the team after we read about it in the papers.

Every Friday, we vote for the Donkey of the Week' and Phil got quite a few votes but last week he wasn't around to hear them as he'd already gone to Barnet.

If he thinks he'll get away with it by going there, though, he's mistaken. There are a couple of old Dagenham players, Anwar Uddin and Glen Southam, playing there now, so we can put a call in to one of those two and get it going up in Barnet as well.

Phil seems to be pretty happy for his sister, though, and I think that he's looking forward to getting his Christmas presents. Frasier' is worth a few bob, so perhaps he can pump a few quid into Dagenham, maybe pay for a couple of new stands or, who knows, sign Lionel Messi!

On a serious note, I'd like to offer my condolences on behalf of the club to the family of Adam Stansfield. He died of cancer on 10 August, aged 31, and our game at Exeter, which had been due to take place last Saturday, was rightly postponed.

At such a difficult time, our thoughts are with those who were close to him.

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