DeaneWhite

This is not FIFA backing down, as much as a sensible compromise in a stand-off manufactured by the likes of the Daily Mail. It has to be said that FIFA has applied some common sense! Hold on..... FIFA and common sense in the same sentence? Now that is amazing!

Sorry, couldn't resist that one. Last time I played Cluedo, it was Colonel Mustard with the lead piping in the library.

Yes, but you killed Dr Black!

Anywhere else we would call it biological warfare! Stupid Yankee fuckwits.

A good draw under the circumstances at Ashton Town last night. Should have been out of sight by half time, but rode our luck in the second half in a typically clich?d game of two halves.

And for that reason, they should all refuse! Who is he to tell anyone what they can and can't wear? Up until now, I was all for them being worn, but it is this kind of tyrannical behaviour our boys fought to erradicate in the first place. I support the poppy and our boys, but when politicians start using it as a political football, it loses all its meaning.

Tevez is not a c?nt- c?nts are useful! That is the second act of gross misconduct in the space of a month- if we just don't turn up to work we usually get sacked. Surely Citeh would be well within their rights to simply charge him with gross misconduct and get rid? Doubt they'd get much for the former DMB in January anyway. His attitude stinks and shows us just what is wrong with football today.

No such qualification for Eno. She started as a fashion designer before operating the autocue on NWT. And judging by her dress sense- no wonder she gave up fashion!

Although slightly off topic- I wonder how that Eno woman got the weather job on BBC North West Tonight?

It was in the general vicinity that Lord Mountbatten met his end at the hands of the IRA, and although a Republican stronghold, it isn't anything like it once was. In truth, given the state of the economy, the locals will probably be glad of any contribution you might make to the local economy whilst there!

My family are originally from Cloonacool near Tubbercurry in Co. Sligo. Been to Baile Easa Dara (correct name in Irish- settlement of the oak by the waterfall) a couple of times- never been my favourite place. There is a lovely seaside town south of Sligo town close to the Mayo border at the mouth of the River Moy called Enniscrone. The Moy was a favourite salmon fishing river for Jack Charlton, who has a house in the Ballina area of Co. Mayo. Indeed Mayo is probably a better bet all round. Fishing, beaches, two major holy pilgrimages (Croagh Patrick and Knock), pretty towns and villages all over and quiter than Galway and Sligo. Far better base all round.

Just to clear everything up: There is no immediate financial crisis at BWFC Eddie Davies will not call in the debt for the forseeable future, as he will never get it Even relegation isn't financial doom, although a further relegation might be The sole major creditor is the owner of the club- he is in it for the long haul not just a quick buck Relax. There is nothing any of us can do about it anyway

No club has a God-given right to be in the PL. I am of the opinion that with the gap between rich and poor in the PL getting ever wider, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a cast-iron guarantee that promoted clubs will be relegated and each of the other 17 places is filled by the same team every year. That is assuming the TV money keeps rolling in....... I don't think relegation would be the end as some supporters seem to think. We will never win the Premier League. We will never be in the Champions' League. We have little to aim for in the PL. A top half finish? The rate player wages and values are going up, the extra money earned from the extra place does not warrant the expenditure. Unless wages and transfer fees go down, we will be left further behind every year, both on the pich and financially.

Even if we got the ?30mn the stadium is supposedly worth, the rent would give the club another outgoing to contend with, whilst bringing debt levels back to what they were just a couple of years ago. In the meantime, we are at the mercy of property developers and any financial difficulties they might experience. The club owns the stadium, Eddie Davies owns the club. Leeds and Crystal Palace owed other football clubs, the FA and HMRC. The HMRC issued the winding-up petitions. Owners owed by clubs don't tend to. Failing to pay football creditors allows the FA to place a club at whatever tier of the system it wishes- Leeds and Crystal Palace could have been expelled from the Football League if they failed to pay football creditors and would have ceased to exist altogether, had HMRC not been paid. Eddie Davies is here for the duration. Whether he can continue bankrolling our losses is another matter. We will have to live within our means or risk running up massive debts with the banks. That would be a recipe for disaster.

Spot on. The club he owns owes him money- ?110mn. Calling in the debt would ensure he never gets it, whereas if he simply forces the club to live within its means whilst giving himself a few million a year, he is likely to see a return on his investment. The whole football world needs to take a good hard look at itself. The players (and their agents) are too greedy and the clubs are stupid enough to give in to them. The bubble will burst eventually. A salary cap is in order- but it must come from FIFA to ensure that players can't just go to another country that doesn't have a cap. Most of us find ?25k a week over the top- but you can stick a nought on that for certain players in the Premier League. We take around ?8mn a year in gate receipts. If the Sky money goes- and it could if the European Court of Justice's ruling is upheld- that is all a club has. If you need a squad of 25 players, the ?8mn works out at just over ?6,000 a week each. Still pretty good money for kicking a pig's bladder around a field. Considering the average footballer works around 25 hours per week at the most, that works out at 50 times the national minimum wage. City's work-shy Tevez is on the equivalent of around ten grand an hour- over 1,600 times the NMW. I have cancelled my Sky subscription as I do not want to pay for that.

Eddie Davies will only ever see that capital investment paid back IF the club is sold to exceptionally wealthy owners. He knows full well that he will NEVER get anything like that if he calls in the debt. A firesale only ever brings in a quarter of the normal value at best- just look at any store having a closing down sale. The stadium is worthless without a club, so its only real value is as a piece of development land. Property markets as they are right now, the land is worth around ?20mn at best- less demolition costs to developers= virtually worthless. Assuming the valuation of the players is correct, ?15mn is probably the best a fire-sale would achieve. ED would be lucky to see ?25mn of that ?110mn and would have killed his ?5mn a year income stream. It is like owning a house that cost ?110,000 to build and currently letting it out for ?5,500 a year (about ?450 a month). The property market currently values the house at ?25,000. If you were in that situation, would you sell- knowing you would make more in rent in five years than you would ever get by selling? Relegation might prove a different story. The Sky cash cow would have gone, so it would be difficult to see where the ?5mn+ for ED would come from. I can see him either writing off a large portion of the debt or reducing interest still further even then. It is HMRC that usually puts clubs into administration, not private investors. In that regard, we are quite safe (for now). Maybe we will be better off getting used to being without the Sky money sooner rather than later- there is no way Sky will be able to afford the kind of money it currently pays if everyone gets a Greek subscription- which they legally can!

His own lack of insurance was not the issue placed before the court. He has no legal obligation to have himself covered against injuries. However, had he been covered by such a policy (undoubtedly much cheaper than a third party liability policy), there would have been no need whatsoever for this case to have ever come before the courts. Insurance companies claim off one another and sometimes fight that out in the courts, but rarely (if ever) seek compensation from the individual or company at fault. The premium is guaged perfectly to reflect the risk and costs of claims- as well as to provide some profit to the insurer. Insurers will therefore absorb the cost of any claim, unless they can claim against another policy. Going back to car insurance, the insurers don't claim the money off uninsured drivers (any fines imposed are criminal punishment and not compensation), they merely charge the claimant an excess (which the claimant could then claim back from the third party in the small claims court) and adjust the cost of premiums accordingly. There is no need for anyone to sue anyone else.

Indeed he is, however I would imagine that SWP is adequately covered against such things. If not, It is not as if SWP is going to become bankrupt as a result of Dean Ashton's action. I'm sure that SWP and DA will settle out of court anyway- something Ashton United couldn't afford to do, especially given that they really believed that they were not legally liable for the injury.

Most people claim compensation agaist their employers- not the opposition team. If Ashton United's appeal against the judgement does not succeed, football as a contact sport could well be finished. This is a landmark case that could open the floodgates to a massive series of such claims that will force grass roots football into oblivion. It was also made clear during the case that the player who caused the injury was also liable, and if Ashton United went under, he would be asked to cough up. Most clubs at Ashton United's level and below struggle to survive as it is. Now that this need for additional insurance is going to come in, it will push many of our clubs into serious financial difficulty. Sunday league football would effectively be killed off. Players at that level have to pay to play as it is- an additional insurance premium on top would make the cost of playing football prohibitive. The FA is already trying to force grass roots clubs to increase their public liability insurance cover from ?1mn to ?5mn next season. Such insurance does not cover incidents such as the one involving Marcus Hallows. Of course Marcus Hallows has every right to be compensated for his loss of earnings, but football has been played professionally in this country for over 120 years. Not once in all of that time has a club faced extinction as a result of a compensation claim made by a player over a perfectly legitimate tackle (but for the injury). In this particular instance, the referee saw absolutely nothing wrong with the challenge and Hallows' injuries were the result of a freak accident. Hallow's case was helped by Gary Mabbutt stating that football was not a contact sport. To my mind, that was a blatant lie, but will become true if this judgement is allowed to stand. If Marcus Hallows was that concerned about his football income, why didn't he insure himself and claim off that? Such insurance is relatively cheap, as it only concerns risk to one individual, compared to the individual's potential risk to others. A player's career can only be ended once, whereas a player could potentially end more than one player's career in one match- one tackle, theoretically. This is why insuring your own car TPFT is often not much more expensive than Third Party Only. It is the risk you pose to others that is the expensive part. Where will all of this end? Are supporters going to sue clubs if they get hit by a ball hoofed out of play? Are those who gamble on football going to start suing referees for decisions that cost them money? This no-win, no-fee litigious culture is now starting to have an effect on the game we love. A line must be drawn before we lose the game for good.

According to reports, the 85 cuts represent about half of the staff- not including the players. An attendance of 20,000 requires a minimum of 33 turnstile operators by virtue of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds, assuming the turnstiles at Fratton Park are manned. Any reduction in turnstile operator numbers would reduce the safe capacity of the stadium. Also, given the fact that turnstile operators are only needed once every two weeks, there can't be many savings to be made there. For what it's worth, the Reebok Stadium has 64 turnstiles- at least three quarters of which are manned for most games. Stewards are usually private security firms these days, so I doubt stewards would be included in the job losses- especially given the safety certificate implications of reducing sterarding levels. Reduced stewarding = reduced capacity. Catering would be the first on the list of potential cuts, along with groundstaff, ticket office, commercial office, cleaners, club shop staff (note the club shop was closed the other day- yet the administrator denied all knowledge of it!), and various others. Football in the Community projects are likely to have suffered, along with the club's youth set-up, as these generate little or no income, but cost a lot of money to run. A club of that size needs at least 2-300 people (including players) to carry on the usual business of a Premier League club. That also includes casual matchday staff.

My sentiments exactly. I had to agree with the guy on SSN yesterday who complained that those who got the sack earned less in a year than the players earn in 3 days. Then the administrator said that he was powerless to make players redundant or even get them to take a pay cut! Many of those made redundant will not get other jobs- there just aren't enough to go round. Is it just me, or do the players have far too much power these days? Why should they be given any kind of special treatment over anyone else?

Sorry, got my wires crossed about Gateshead, but so many are in trouble and most winding-up petitions at that level are successful. Massive headache this Summer!

I fully appreciate all of that. Everything you say is factually correct, but does that mean that's the way it should be? That is my point. I'm not suggesting for a moment that we should prevent players from playing internationals- more that the internationals themselves are largely pointless exercises, and if FIFA sanction them, perhaps they should cough up for such injuries when they arise. Why should the club (and ultimately the fans) have to pay for injuries occurring on FIFA's watch? How much money does FIFA bring in in sponsorship revenue for the World Cup- and where does it all end up? It certainly isn't going on providing grants for goal-line technology!

Crossing the road is an essential everyday activity. Of course, it is by no means less dangerous, but it is difficult to avoid. That said, very few of our overpaid stars actually ever need to cross a road on foot! The point is that playing football- a risky activity- for a team other than your employers is one that can be avoided, especially when the game is meaningless. I realise managers use friendlies to run the rule over fringe players, but that challenge could have done far more damage. I question whether it is a risk worth taking- especially with so much at stake. The world cup is held at a time of year when the vast majority of nations are on their close season. There is plenty of time between the end of the domestic season and the world cup to play a couple of friendlies (as they will be doing anyway) for those fringe players to get a chance to justify their place in the squad. My primary concern is- and always has been- Bolton Wanderers. The national team doesn't even make it into second place for me- Colls are way ahead.

In a further (slighlty unrelated) development, Farsley Celtic have been "disbanded" by their administrators. They have rejected buyout offers time and time again, taken their cut and got out. Another one bites the dust. This is all going to cast further doubt on my own club's situation in the NWCL, as there are soon not going to be enough teams relegated to make up for those promoted. We only have 17 teams as it is!