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Wolves' promotion to the top flight is going to cost them. Jim Heath explains how

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ return to top-flight English football has come at a cost. In addition to the well publicised investment club owner Sir Jack Hayward has made over the last decade, he is now having to make pay­ments to Swindon Town, Charlton Athletic, Sunderland and Coventry City – adding up to the tidy sum of around £1.5 million. Not bad for a now depressed market. This all stems from add-on clauses to the original fees Wolves paid for players, which would only be activated if and when promotion was finally achieved. So, Shaun Newton suddenly be­comes a million-pound player overnight – his original £850,000 fee from when Wolves bought him from Charlton in August 2001 has just in­creased by some £300,000. Similar increments are due to the others for George Ndah, Alex Rae, Paul But­ler and Cédric Rous­sel. Which is fair enough, as during the season they have all made a big contribution to the overall objective of promotion. Except, that is, Cédric Roussel.

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Thursday 1 The FA is fined £70,000 for the pitch invasion and racist abuse at last month’s Euro 2004 qualifier with Turkey. UEFA also criticises David Beckham for his “provocative” goal celebration. England’s next match, against Slovakia, will not be played behind closed doors, however. Acting joint chief executive David Davies promises action: “We need to take this decision and use it to our benefit. There are people who have shamed this country, we all know that.” UEFA will also be sending a bill to Sir Alex, who’s fined £4,500 for claiming the Champions League draw was fixed. In the Conference play-offs, Dagenham beat Morecambe 2-1 and Doncaster draw 1-1 at Chester. Thierry Henry is named Footballer of the Year to add to the PFA award he won last week.

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Dear WSC
I’m glad Brian Gibbs can gain pleasure from hearing Ray Wilkins (Letters, WSC 192). Us QPR supporters can’t help remembering Ray Wilkins presiding over the start of the long decline we’ve had to endure at Loftus Road. Ned Zelic is the “ver­satile as an egg” player referred to. Wilkins wasted a big chunk of the money QPR got for Les Ferdinand on buy­ing him. What was Wilkins thinking of? Ferdinand was approaching his peak, you could guarantee 25 goals (and probably more) from him in a season. He was incredibly popular with QPR fans, even when he scored for Newcastle at Loftus Road a couple of months later in what turned out to be the first of the relegations QPR would suffer all too quickly. Zelic turned out to be a very bad egg, not versatile at all. We could forgive him for not being any use. It was the fact that he didn’t even try that annoyed us.
Pete Harris, via email

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Friday 1 Tony Pulis, out of work since leaving Portsmouth two years ago, takes over at Stoke. Steve McLaren resigns as Sven’s assistant, saying: “It was never intended to be long-term and it has dragged on.”

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Almost alone among their former communist neighbours, Czech clubs have made some headway in the Champions League era. Sam Beckwith reports

These are strange days in the Czech Republic: European Union entry, which has been dangled on a string since 1989, finally seems imminent; the citizens of Prague and Brno are spoilt for choice when it comes to multiplex cinemas and out-of-town shopping centres; and even Viktoria Zizkov’s Jur­assic-era stadium is all-seater now.

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