"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant." Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme
There has been a period of relative stability and quiet in the battle for control of Arsenal. That is probably just as well for the club as, whatever players say to the contrary, these off pitch battles can have a negative effect.
Former Football League clubs are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet in the Conference and a campaign is gaining momentum to have three up from the Blue Square Bet Premier with two automatic promotion places. I don’t see it getting anywhere because League 2 clubs would not want to increase their chances of relegation to the non-league system.
Quite often I get letters in the post asking me if I have made a will and would I like to leave a legacy to this or that charity. Even my old school sent me a glossy brochure and an invitation to donate. But it’s rare for football fans to leave money to their clubs. Quite reasonably they might think it would be wasted on expensive players who contributed little.
Next year Notts County celebrate the significant milestone of their 150th anniversary. Last season they experienced a roller coaster with the arrival and departure of Munto Finance who did not have as deep pockets as they originally claimed. Now Ray Trew is the owner and chairman.
In fact it wasn’t all bad from County’s point of view. Indeed outspoken Rochdale manager Gary Hill has in effect accused them of buying promotion.
The gap between the Championship and League 1 has widened, particularly in terms of television revenues with the second tier becoming more like a de facto Premiership 2. This may lead to clubs spending more than they can afford in the effort to get promoted. Sheffield Wednesday has had to be rescued this season, Plymouth Argyle is in dire straits and Charlton is awaiting the completion of a takeover to save the club from administration.
This hard hitting article does not pull its punches in arguing why it thinks Plymouth Argyle is facing financial ruin. While it emphasises that some of the concerns expressed by members of the Green Army are misplaced, it also calls on the board to take collective responsibility and show decisive leadership.
Manchester United are on track to win the Barclays Premier League title. That’s not my view, but is the conclusion reached by the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO), a research organisation based in France and Switzerland.
Most of the first team at Great Yarmouth Town, known as the Bloaters, have gone on strike. At the level of the Ridgeons Premier Division (aka the Eastern Counties League), players are normally paid in the form of expenses such as a mileage allowance. Players are claiming that they are owed £5,000 for petrol to get to away matches (presumably there is no coach).
Mansfield Town will return to their Field Mill ground on Boxing Day when (weather permitting) they will play another former league club Grimsby Town. Chairman John Radford has reached an agreement with landlord Keith Haslam.
Barcelona (both the city and the football club) has a very favourable image among those on the left of the political spectrum in Northern Europe. For them the Spanish civil war defines their attitude to Spain and they invariably will not follow Real Madrid. It was, of course, all a long time ago: the small but significant group of Spanish civil war refugees we had in the town in which I live has literally died out and all my current local Spanish friends (one who lives opposite me) are economic migrants.