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.
Search: 'administration'
Stories
Letters, WSC 184
Dear WSC
While Ian Kelp (Letters, WSC 183) makes some valid points about the bizarre soft spot banks have for football clubs in allowing them to trade on nought but promises year after year, I fear that he is too puritanical in his approach to business planning. Page one of the Company Treasurer’s Handbook tells us about cashflow planning and a seemingly valid contract promising revenue at fixed future times is a reasonable thing to make plans on, or, if necessary, borrow against. No business waits until the money is in the bank account before planning how to spend it, or indeed actually spending it. Would Marks and Spencer wait until it had a queue of unsatisfied customers waving bunches of tenners in the branch until it ordered a batch of knickers from its suppliers? Where the clubs have probably been naive is in what appears to be a less than watertight contract. If it is true that Carlton and Granada can walk away without liability for their little joint venture, the clubs should be looking at the quality of their legal advice. The fact that the share prices of both Carlton and Granada rose once the situation became public is a pretty depressing sign of what the City thinks of that contract.
Jonathan Gibbs, via email
After 70 years, Tooting & Mitcham United are moving home. Andy Lyons reports
A Ryman League First Division fixture between Tooting & Mitcham United and Wealdstone wouldn’t normally draw a thousand people, or anywhere near. Most of the crowd on April 20 had come specifically to see the last competitive match at Sandy Lane, Tooting’s home since 1932 and the last of the big non-League grounds left in London. Chairman John Buffoni has taken the brave step of striking a business deal with Ron Noades, as a result of which the club will begin next season at a new stadium built on Crystal Palace’s old training ground two miles away across south London.
Bottom of the pile. Fewest goals scored, most conceded. Fewest games won, most lost. Keith Butterick summarises a tough season in Division Three for Halifax Town
Well, at least we have secured our place in the history books. Not, though, for anything as emotionally gratifying as being the first Third Division club to win the FA Cup. No, typical of Halifax Town, our entry will be the type that no one wants – the first club to be promoted from the Conference and then relegated again. Quite an achievement even by our standards.
Monday 1 Arsenal go a point clear after a 3-0 win at Charlton. “We know it’s down to us now,” says Arsène. “We’ve gifted six goals in two games,” sighs a baffled David O’Leary as Leeds’ Champs League hopes fade further with a 2-1 defeat at Spurs. Ipswich slip into the bottom three after Marcus Bent misses a penalty in a goalless draw with Chelsea, while John Gregory is “almost lost for words” after Derby’s 1-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough. Everton survive the early dismissal of a punch-throwing Duncan Ferguson (“He was stupid and I’ve told him,” says his new manager) to record a 3-1 win over Bolton, also reduced to ten. In the First, West Brom’s 1-0 win at Coventry takes them level on points with Wolves, beaten 2-0 at home by Man City. Brighton go two points clear at the top of the Second with a last-minute winner against Bristol City, displacing Reading who draw at home with Northampton. Several Luton players are questioned by police following a nightclub brawl to celebrate their promotion. Halifax, 5-0 losers at Darlington, go down to the Conference for the second time in nine years.