A few weeks into his treatment for cancer, the good news is that Newcastle Town's John Cotton is progressing well.
Cotto has been undergoing chemotherapy and is about to receive radium treatment, and he says the consultant is happy with his progress.
"I've been to see the top man at the hospital and he says I'm doing OK, and responding well to the treatment, so no one's getting me rid of me yet . I've now got five weeks of 5 day sessions for radium treatment, and I was in the other day getting what are like little tattoos put in various places, so that they can use them for the treatment. When the nurse started explaining what was about to about happen, she said 'Don't worry Mr Cotton, it's only a little prick', but I told her not to knock it until she had tried it".
In the meantime, Cotto's upbeat outlook remains unaffected, despite Newcastle Town's record breaking winning run coming to end last weekend when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Colne at the Lyme Valley Stadium.
"I know people will be saying that this is us about to hit a dodgy spell, but it's only a temporary blip. Any team in the country would be happy with a winning run of 27 consecutive league wins, and hopefully the lads will notch up plenty more before the end of the season".
After the Colne game, Town regulars were regaled by the unusual sight in the clubhouse of Cotto getting his wallet out and getting a round in, an event so noteworthy that it was captured on camera to prove it actually happened.
"Unfortunately the treatment means I can't drink alcohol just now, so I've had to take a leaf out of John Reid's book and stick to J2O's and Britvic 55s. I'm sure everyone at the club will have noticed the drop in bar takings while I've been off the beer, but hopefully it won't be for too long".
Short term, Cotto hopes to be able to get to a few more games in the near future, and is using a new method of keeping tabs on all his friends and contacts in the footballing world.
"I've got my own Facebook page set up now, and have started the process of keeping in touch with people through that. If anyone wants to have me a friend on Facebook, I'd be delighted to link up with them through that".
The picture below shows Newcastle Town club officials in various states of delight and disbelief at the sight of Cotto getting his wallet out to buy a round, and rumours that the money and wallet went back in his pocket after the picture was taken are unfounded.
Pictured from left to right are: Geoff Eccleston, Ray Tatton, John Cotton, Len Matthews (behind John), Bill Nolan, Colin Spencer and Tony Caveney.
