The Archive

Keiran Robson explains how the FA have moved the goalposts after the newly formed Barrow AFC (1999) were refused permission to take over the status of the existing Barow AFC (1901) from next season after their exclusion from the Nationwide Conference

On Saturday June 5th, Barrow were ex­cluded from the Nationwide Conference for next season. The club has 14 days to appeal but, if that fails, the best they can hope for is to be playing in the North West Trains League – three levels below the Conference – next season. There is a chance, however, that the club may go out of existence altogether. The new board say they will not be able to afford to maintain the club’s current ground, Holker Street, on the income generated in the North West Trains League, whose clubs are allowed to charge a maximum entrance fee of only £2.

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Best Alan Green’s incessant moaning reminds me of watching games with my Dad. Anthony Hobbs

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The rise in players' wages continues to grow at an alarming rate, causing Deloitte and Touche to call for clubs to show a harder stance during negotiations

The strangest publication to arrive at WSC for a long time was a glossy bro­chure called, with no apparent sense of irony, UEFA Champions League: A solidarity system for European football. Published in February this year, it appears to form part of UEFA’s campaign to head off any attempt to challenge the central marketing of TV rights to the Champions League.

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The latest political attempts to counter hooliganism are a step too far, argues Stan Pearce

As the political landscape of the country has changed – so runs the conventional wis­dom – so has the attitude of Westminster to football. However, anyone who believed that Trade Secretary Stephen Byers’s decision to prevent the takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch signalled another stage in the evolution of politicians’ thinking towards the game should have witnessed a low-key debate in the House of Commons in the week of the Byers decision.

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Saturday 3 Liverpool's first derby win in ten attempts, 3-2 at Anfield, is overshadowed by a row over Robbie Fowler's celebration when scoring the first of his two goals, when he mimics snorting cocaine from the white line, geddit, of the penalty area. Gerard Houllier, game for a laugh, claims Fowler was pretending to eat grass but the FA are expected to whip out another of their misconduct charges. Chelsea and Leeds make ground at the top after beating Charlton and Forest while Man Utd are held 1-1 by Wimbledon and Arsenal get a goalless draw at Southampton. In the First Division, Sunderland's 11th successive home win, 3-0 over West Brom, equals a club record. Ipswich stay second after thrashing Swindon 6-0 at the County Ground.

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