We did the travails of Weymouth FC on here before, in January 2007. Things seem now to be going from bad to worse down in Dorset, with the latest rumours involving a merger with their nearest and bitterest rivals, Dorchester Town of the Blue Square South. Since January 2007, times have been tough for Weymouth Football [. Click to continue reading...

It's probably safe to assume that Donal Macintyre isn't that much of a football fan. Not because he gives the impression of being someone that hates football, even though his previous dalliance with the game was an expose of the "Chelsea Headhunters" for the BBC. I say this because, if he was familiar with the [. Click to continue reading...

France and England have a complex relationship. Both are considerably more like each other than either would like to admit and, even after thirty-five years of European integration, any attempts by the French to dictate European political policy are likely to be greeted with honks of derision in the British press. Click to continue reading...

After the forced decampment of Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, we thought, perhaps, "never again". That was six years ago, but the ugly face of football franchising is raising its ugly face again. This time, however, the rumour mill is coming from the Conference North, with the distinct possibility starting to appear of one club trying [. Click to continue reading...

Without wishing to blow my own trumpet too much, there are times when I think that perhaps this site should renamed, "Well, I Warned You That This Would Happen". What is more surprising is that whilst we often see the screamingly obvious about some of the more hare-brained schemes that people within "The Game" manage [. Click to continue reading...

Looking at the average attendance tables for the Ryman League Division One North doesn't make for especially happy reading if you are interested in the well-being of the non league game in North-East London. The four smallest clubs in the division are all from that particular neck of the woods, with Ilford, Waltham Forest, Redbridge [. Click to continue reading...

It has been a busy few days at White Hart Lane, as one might expect from a club having its worst ever start to a season. On Thursday night, they lost 2-0 to Udinese in the UEFA Cup, confirming that their slump this season isn't the result of a sudden leap in the quality of [...] Click to continue reading...

A rather strange story appeared on the front page of "Non-League Today" this week. Under the enthusiastic headline "It's Toon Army II", the paper reported that a group of Newcastle United supporters have grown so disillusioned with their club that they hope to follow in the footsteps of FC United of Manchester and form an [. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle United supporters have spent much of the last couple of weeks being chippy about the rest of the world laughing at their football club. Far enough, in some respects. There has been a nasty undercurrent to muchf the criticism of Newcastle's supporters over the last few weeks, though my personal reaction to such chippiness [. Click to continue reading...

So, it would appear that Newcastle United's supporters have got approximately fifty per cent of what they wanted, with Mike Ashley's official announcement that the club is up for sale, although it had been widely rumoured that he had been looking for an exit strategy for quite some time. The other fifty per cent - [. Click to continue reading...

There are few things in football that are more pleasurable to hear than a damn good booing, but you don't hear enough of it these days. Too many football supporters are far too supine these days - they put up with whatever they're given. There's none of that going on at Newcastle United at the [...] Click to continue reading...

On the day that the England team are due to get a pasting in a World Cup qualifier, it feels apt that we should be dropping in on another team in crisis with a link to St George. St George's Lane, Worcester, was the venue of one of the FA Cup's greatest upsets. Liverpool weren't [...] Click to continue reading...

September seems likely to see the closure of yet another famous, old North London football ground, as Hendon FC finally prepare to leave Claremont Road after a protracted battle which has seen the club sail close to the brink of receivership several times. At the time of writing, they still don't know when the final [. Click to continue reading...

People always misjudged the anti-Glazer protests at Manchester United. It was always a more nuanced argument than being against foreign ownership in football. There is nothing wrong with foreign ownership of English football clubs, as long as they are well run. Randy Lerner's time in charge at Aston Villa is proof of this, as if [. Click to continue reading...

Football club implosions can take several different forms, to the point that it is is probably fair to say that there is no one route to insolvency. Sometimes, mere spending beyond one's means for a season is enough to have grim long-term ramifications, as happened to Bradford City, who are still paying the price for [. Click to continue reading...

Plus ca change. In June 2007, we expressed our concerns over the new ownership taking over at Manchester City. "The military government in Thailand have already tried to seize all of his assets once", we said. "I can imagine more stable financial backgrounds that he could have come from", we said. Did anyone listen? Click to continue reading...

"All animals are created equal", wrote George Orwell, "but some animals are more equal than others". The images of "Animal Farm" are easily invoked when considering the running of football in England, and none are quite as apt as the pigs in their ceremonial blazers with self-awarded medals if one is trying to imagine what [. Click to continue reading...

That break that last for a couple of days towards the end of a major football tournament can do strange things to you. I considered at great length whether I should go into enormous detail about the European Championship semi-finals (which, lest we forget, are being played tomorrow night and the night after), but I thought that a break would probably be good for all of us, and that it would have the advantage of allowing me to pontificate briefly on a subject that I've been playing about with in my mind quite a lot over the last few weeks. Click to continue reading...

That break that last for a couple of days towards the end of a major football tournament can do strange things to you. I considered at great length whether I should go into enormous detail about the European Championship semi-finals (which, lest we forget, are being played tomorrow night and the night after), but I [. Click to continue reading...

Just two and a half years ago, Luton Town were playing for a place in the Premier League. Just outside the play-off places and having given Liverpool an almighty scare in the FA Cup, it looked as if a bright future might just be within their grasp. What has happened since then has been well documented elsewhere (suffice to day that this success was built upon a house of cards), but it culminated this week in the club, which has already been relegated into League Two having been docked ten points last year for going into administration, being docked another ten points for the financial irregularities that were in no small part to blame for them being in the predicament in which they ended up. Click to continue reading...

Sad and troubling news from South Yorkshire, where Rotherham United have conceded defeat in their attempts to stay at Millmoor, and will play for next season at least at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield. The club had been in negotiations with the Booth family (who own Millmoor) for the last few weeks, but have been unable to agree terms with the owners and will, therefore, be leaving their home for the last 101 years with immediate effect. Click to continue reading...

During the mid to late 1990s, while the Premier League reaped the almost ridiculously ostentatious rewards of the Sky TV boom, supporters of many smaller clubs found themselves having to mobilise against a rash of asset stripping new club owners. Each protest brought its own stark images, be they the collecting tins outside Bootham Crescent as York City were run into the ground by Douglas Craig, the desperate pitch invasion at The Goldstone Ground after David Bellotti and Bill Archer sold Brighton's stadium to developers and pocketed the money, or the black card protests at Selhurst Park after Wimbledon announced their move to Milton Keynes. Click to continue reading...

Sunrise, sunset. The Independent this morning reported on the successful start made by AFC Liverpool, at least off the pitch - commercial activities including a sponsorship deal have, it was reported, earned them between £50,000-£100,000, while the appointment of Derek Goulding (who took Burscough to an FA Cup First Round in November 2005) as manager seems to be an indicator that they intend to be taken seriously when they kick off in the North West Counties League next season. Click to continue reading...

At five o'clock this evening, Swansea City were finally crowned as the champions of League One. Swansea have spent the whole of this season doing rather well out of getting quietly on with the business of winning matches whilst playing some of the best football to be seen in England outside of the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

I thought I'd better warn you first - this isn't going to make for particularly happy reading. I have, however, been doing a considerable amount of pondering about the number of clubs falling into financial difficulties this season. We continue to live in an age of comparative wealth. The Football League TV deal is dwarfed by what the Premier League gets, but it still beats what clubs used to get in the First Division in the 1980s hands down. Click to continue reading...

As the football season wends its way towards its conclusion, it's easy to forget the harsh realities that many clubs have to operate under in order to put a team out each Saturday. That harsh reality has, however, reared its ugly head again, with Rotherham United becoming the third Football League club to be placed into administration this season after Luton Town and Bournemouth, and the danger is that, for Rotherham, the current financial crisis might just prove to be a step too far. Click to continue reading...

In Scotland, the harsh realities of the wrong people getting involved in football clubs has been even more pronounced that it has been in England in recent years. Meadowbank Thistle were unceremoniously moved to Livingston, and several clubs have been left homeless or playing in two-sided grounds because of aborted development projects, but the most convoluted story of all has a particular relevance today, as it involves the financial collapse of two clubs, which led to Gretna FC being voted into the Scottish League in circumstances that are best described as "murky". Click to continue reading...