Brighton's chief executive Martin Perry talks to Andy Lyons and recalls the club's fraught period groundsharing at Gillingham and draws some parallels with Wimbledon's current situation

“If Brighton had had to stay at Gillingham for any longer than we did, I don’t think we would have survived. In our final season at the Goldstone (1996-97) our average gate was around 6,000. But in the first season at Gillingham gates dropped to some­thing like 2,500. It was a 150-mile round trip for our fans, similar to that now being proposed for Wimbledon supporters. Travelling fans were setting off before lunch and getting home after eight at night.

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Wimbledon supporters are mad as hell and they're not going to take it any more, Kevin Rye tells how the Milton Keynes plans finally roused Dons fans into action

What is so unusual about calling for the chairman of your football club to resign? Criticising the board is almost part of the fabric of football, but when Wimbledon supporters recently turned on Charles Koppel for applying to the Football League to relocate the club to Milton Keynes, it was also the beginning of the end of years of apathy and denial by their fans.

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Keith Butterick looks at how Deloitte have gradually enhanced their reputation

The Deloitte & Touche Annual Review of Football Finance is celebrating its tenth an­niversary. Things have changed dramatically since Gerry Boon, Oldham Athletic fan and an accountant at Deloitte’s Manchester office, produced the first report. Colleagues, who tolerated his interest in comparing the fin­ances of football clubs like an indulgent father looks at his son’s latest craze, considered him slightly barmy.

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John Earls remembers the former Luton and Manchester United keeper who was a fearless cockney wide-boy 

Of course, the news came as a shock. How­ever, as anyone who saw and above all heard him in action, that Les Sealey had suffered a fatal heart attack was, unfortunately, not a to­tal surprise. For the Manchester United def­enders who played under both keepers, there would probably be some who felt that Peter Schmeichel’s roastings were lukewarm  com­pared to Sealey yelling at them like Brian Blessed doing an Alex Ferguson impression.

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Maccabi Haifa, having disposed of FC Haka, were set for a lucrative tie with Liverpool – that is until they were found guilty of fielding an ineligable player. Shaul Adar discusses the fallout

It was one of the most unfortunate appearances in the history of European club football. Maccabi Haifa held a 1-0 lead from the away leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie against FC Haka of Finland. For the return, won 4-0 in Haifa, they recalled ex-Wimbledon midfielder Walid Badir who had been suspended. During the game Badir broke his cheekbone and was taken to hospital. A few hours after he’d undergone an operation, the news broke: Badir was supposed to serve a two-game suspension and so had been ineligible. Haifa were disqualified and duly lost about £2 million they would have earned from meeting Liverpool in the next round.

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