Steve Morgan, who tried to buy Liverpool in 2004 but was turned down, reckons that the club would have been better off under his ownership than with the current American owners.  He thinks that the club would now be debt free.  Instead, Morgan - who is ranked as the 146th-wealthiest person in Britain according to the The Sunday Times Rich List - went on to buy Wolves.   He is generally thought to have followed a prudent strategy there which may keep them in the Premiership without spending impossible sums of money.   Read more here:

Manchester United fans want to make their dispute with the Glazers and similar situations at other clubs across football a general election issue. They are also placing increasing hopes on the so-called Red Knights being able to buy out the Glazers.

Having failed to carry out their last two fixtures, Chester City face expulsion from the Blue Square Premiership unless they can give financial assurances about their future.   They failed to send a team for their midweek away fixture with Forest Green.   Accounts of what happened vary: some say that the unpaid players refused to board the coach, others that the coach driver refused to set off until his company was paid.   Yesterday's derby against Wrexham was called off becaues the police refused to provide cover having not been paid for previous matches.

The taxman's crackdown on football is extending to image rights.    Revenue and Customs is supicious of the deals struck between 'image rights' companies and players and considers that their real aim is often to attract foreign-based players who have been put off by British taxation levels.  Clubs are paying money into image rights companies based offshore and therefore out of the reach of the taxman.   The Premier League is still hoping to broker a deal on the issue.

Cardiff City FC may have been beaten 4-1 by Chelsea yesterday but they should collect £500,000 from their outing which is of great benefit to a club in financial trouble.  Chairman Peter Ridsdale insists that there is no threat to the club.   The pro-Ridsdale camp emphasise his achievements in cutting an inherited debt of £32m owed by previous owner Sam Hammam; a leap in average gates to 21,000; a new £50m stadium; an FA Cup Final appearance in 2008 and a team that is in contention for a play-off place and promotion to the Premiership.

Falling attendances and weakened teams are leading to consideration to being given to a range of initiatives to revamp the competition.   Read more here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7025721.ece

Staging matches midweek would probably depress attendances rather than enhance them and it is doubtful whether experiments with new technology, useful though they might be, would bring in the fans.

The latest bid to buy Stockport County, bottom of League 1 and in administration, has been rejected by the Football League.  A bid had been submitted by a consortium led by former Manchester City striker, Jim Melrose.   In a statement the administrators said.

Manchester United chief executive Dave Gill got a warm reception from United fans at the end of a question-and-answer session at Birmingham University (which he attended).   He was asked to justify his support for the Glazers, having originally opposed their takeover in May 2005 as 'aggressive' and 'potentially damaging to the club'.  Asked to explain why he had said 'debt is the road to ruin' during a United supporters' forum in 2004 but subsequently defended the Glazers' heavily leveraged ownership, Gill said, 'I haven't seen the context of those comments, it depends on the

As has been evident for some time, the taxman has been losing patience with football and has not been allowing clubs to run up big PAYE bills but is asking them to pay promptly like other taxpayers.   This is not surprising when one considers that HM Revenue and Customs has lost an estimated £30m from clubs going into administration and failing to pay all the tax they owe.  

Portsmouth have been given a court date of March 1st for the hearing of their winding-up petition.  As well as the £7.4m VAT bill which the club is disputing, they also owe £4.7m in PAYE and National Insurance which does not form part of the court action.  As is so often the case, there are also local businesses that are owed amounts of money that are significant for them.