ITV Digital in Administration

No TV Money in the immediate future for league football clubs, how will Div 2 and Div 3 football clubs survive in the short term - having planned for this money coming in.

to be honest, I think a lot of them won't, we're going to start seeing a lot more clubs using semi-pro players and even going tits up.

I'm sure the Premiership clubs will show their philanthropic side and assist their lower league brothers. Or maybe not.

tragi-comic post of the week.

So, how many of us here support clubs who, as of today, are almost certain to go to the wall? Cabbage, you're one, I think. I certainly am. Hopkins?

Sigh :-(

Balls to football, does this mean I'm released from my contract with them or not?

No.

You have to ruin everything I do, don't you?

Exeter City sold their young star striker, Roberts today to Brizzle City for an undisclosed fee. Any reaction?

Also Portsmouth sold Peter 6ft 7 Crouch to Villa today - in a total package deal worth up to 6 Million, depending on appearances. This will be the TALLEST transfer of the week !

The transfer monies are of course extremely timely given the imminent collapse of ITV Digital and the consequent loss of £3 million per season to the club. The transfer will enable the club to press on with the rebuilding of the team in the close season, with five or six quality recruits promised by manager Harry Redknapp.

DG, get down to Dagenham & Redbridge - you local team, they are second in the Conference to Boston.

I would if I liked football, Mr Martian, but it doesn't and hasn't ever appealed to me.

POMPEY CHIEF FORECASTS MASS PLAYERS SALES

How will this effect transfer deadline day tomorrow, could be a very busy transfer day - with Div 1/ 2/ 3 clubs selling assets to survive over the summer?

The Mighty Christian has been the very definition of mercurial, but has the talent to be really successful. I would have liked him to stay, but I'm pleased we sold him because he was out of contract at the end of the season and our payout from a tribunal was likely to be very low. All the City fans I know wish the boy well.

As for the wider issue, the sum ECFC will lose is not as great as it might have been because the Div 1 clubs were so greedy when it came to dividing the ITV cash up in the first place. I'm not familiar with the finances of the club so I can't say how perilous the situation is from the ECFC point of view. Many clubs are running at a loss at the moment, and this will most likely push a few closer to the edge. Maybe some will go out of business, although it is very rare for that to happen, and since most clubs' major creditors tend to be ex- Directors and local businesses, there doesn't tend to be a long queue of people willing to be 'the one' who killed a club.

If I had my way, football clubs would be run by and for the communities they're part of. It's possible that the pain currently being experienced in the football league is one step towards this model. That'll be me looking on the bright side, then.

The moral of this story:

You can save a multi million pound company with a woolen monkey.

or

ITV should leave the TV business and sell woolen monkeys

*grins, laughs, shouts "told you so!"*

Yeah Robin - but your not going to see Crystal Palace on Sky - now are you !