Poppies survive, Knitters disappear

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Kettering Town have had their winding-up order rescinded at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The Poppies were appealing the decision to wind the club up over a debt of £58,000 owed to Rushden & Diamonds (2008) Ltd a month ago.

The winding-up order has been rescinded and is set to be dismissed in 28 days, subject to Kettering paying off the agreed amount with Rushden & Diamonds (2008) Ltd.

The club has had to pay more than it originally expected. However, supporters from around the world rallied round and along with the Poppies’ Supporters Trust raised £20,000 towards the costs.

The cost of rescheduling Qatar

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Although Fifa is now going to engage in a period of ‘deep consultation’, it seems inevitable that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be rescheduled either to November and December or January and February. Dates later in the spring have been mentioned, but would cause even more disruption to league programmes.

Air conditioning would cost tens of millions of dollars per match if the tournament was held in the summer. It would also be difficult to provide safe conditions for fans.

Conurbations rule in title race

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Bill Edgar who writes a column in the ‘Game’ section of The Times each Monday had an interesting piece last week about the way in which the leading conurbations are increasingly dominating the Premier League title race.

There are seven ‘built up areas’ in England with a population of over three quarters of a million. In order these are: Greater London; Greater Manchester; the West Midlands; West Yorkshire; Liverpool; south Hampshire (which would include fierce rivals Portsmouth and Southampton); and Tyneside.

The transition problem at United

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12th in the table is an unusual place for Manchester United FC to be, but it does have to be remembered that it is only September and their final position is likely to be much higher. It is easy to overlook the fact that West Bromwich Albion played exceptionally well on Saturday. However, some United fans are already concerned about whether they will secure a Champions League place, let alone retain the title.