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Isn't the Conference great for football? Roger Titford, for one, is not so sure about the gradual rise of the Football League's younger brother

Football League membership has, I’ve always thought, been a very precious thing, a distinction that was historically conferred on a club by the existing members. That once huge distinction between League and non-League is suddenly getting very blurred. I feel there’s a fifth column, literally, in our divisional tables now; someone else pretending to be part of the League family, creeping in bit by bit. Unfashionable though it may be to say so, I’m not sure I like what’s happening any more.

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Saturday 1 Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink thumps in a header at St James’ Park, but it’s for Newcastle who go on to win 2-1 and move into joint second place. Debutant Jonathan Woodgate chances a prediction: “Yes, I think we can win the title.” Juninho marks his Middlesbrough comeback with the equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Everton, who move up into the fourth Champions League spot, though David Moyes is taking it steady: “Our next target is a top-half finish.” “This match was about the players who spilt blood,” says Glenn Roeder as a Di Canio-less West Ham draw level with Bolton after beating Spurs 2-0. Hope is receding for the other two in the relegation area, though Howard talks of a “near top-drawer performance” as Sunderland slide to a late and unlucky defeat, their sixth in a row in the league, 1-0 at Fulham. West Brom lose by the same score at Southampton. Portsmouth fans, banned from visiting the New Den, miss seeing their team thrash Millwall 5-0 . Wigan go 15 points clear in the Second with 3-1 win over Chesterfield. In the Third, Hartlepool’s stately progress  is slowed slightly by a 2-2 draw with local rivals Darlington. At the bottom end, Exeter stem a run of four defeats with a home point against the equally desperate Bristol Rovers.

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Wednesday 1 Arsenal stay five points clear but only after a nervous last few minutes in which Chelsea score twice before losing 3-2. “I like to win games like that when you’re tired,” says Arsène, making an excuse even though he doesn’t need to. “It was like watching the tide coming in,” says Howard Wilkinson as Man Utd score two late goals to beat Sunderland 2-1 having trailed for 75 minutes. Liverpool drop down to seventh after a tenth winless match, a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle, but Gérard sticks his chin out, sort of: “I don’t want to commit suicide before the end of the season.” Several fixtures are postponed due to bad weather, and one, Reading v Leicester, is called off at half-time due to a waterlogged pitch.

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Wednesday 1 Norwich reach the First Division play-off final, beating Wolves 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-0 defeat at Molineux. David Jones declines to discuss his team’s decline (“What I think will stay in-house”), while Nigel Worthington is taking each day as a bonus: “Before the start of the season I’d have settled for eighth or ninth.” Cardiff miss the chance of a play-off final on their doorstep by losing 2-0 at home to Stoke in the second leg of their semi. In the other Second Division tie, Brentford beat Huddersfield 2-1. After two years in administration, Airdrie go into full liquidation and consequently lose their place in the Scottish First Division – any new club launched under the same name would have to start in the Third. A Turkish man is jailed for 15 years for the murder of two Leeds fans in Istanbul in 2000. Four others are found guilty of lesser charges.

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A quick history with all things football in Wigan, courtesy of Mike Wareing

1932 Wigan Athletic are born. Previously there was Wigan Borough (slung out of the League in 1931), Wigan Town, Wigan United and Wigan County – none survived. Fingers are crossed for the future success of the new club as the town is rapidly running out of names.

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