Oh Sit down, oh sit down, oh sit down, sit down next to me………. (ooohhh Matron)

Some interesting exchanges on the various web sites, message boards and mailing lists this week and last, around the all seater stadium, and the sensible/proposed capacity of the our elusive friend at Morfa. No real answers, and they are always going to be debatable issues, but some interesting points have been raised nonetheless. While the question of all seater grounds revolves firmly around safety issues, the fans cannot see it as that black and white. There are few people, I am sure, that would deny that the arrival of all seater stadiums removed a certain something from the grounds. When considering the building of a new stadium, like Morfa – and let's be fair, they've had some time at it - then they have had all the opportunities to review reactions at other grounds, by the fans and the safety and stadium officials, and the likely reaction of the home crowd, who after all are the ones who will fill it. There is no compulsion to go 'all seater', let's just hope they get it right.

As for the size of the Morfa, apparently knowledgeable opinion has it that up towards 20,000 crowds are needed to support a 1st Division club, that is to support the wage structure and associated costs that a 1st Division club will face. Therefore for any forward thinking, modestly ambitious football club, a 25,000 capacity stadium would be sensible. The counter argument to that – what's the point if you are not going to fill it on a regular basis? If we reach the 1st Division, would we fill the 20,000 – most people posting this past week or so think not, but would that stop us being a 1st Division club. It may just be a case of knowing your place and accepting it, and matching your outgoings to your income. The primary aim of any club at the moment would have to be financial stability. Few have that luxury, and the precarious house of cards in which most clubs reside has wavered in a few directions on more than one occasion recently. The question that should be obvious here is do you pay the players what the club income will support, or do you set the wages to attract the players you want to attract, or want to keep, and then go looking for income streams to match the demand. The first seems a lot more sensible a line to take, but I would guess happens in the minority of cases. A strong commercial side to a business can certainly relieve the weekly pressure of crowd sizes having to balance the books, but it's clicks of the turnstile that still dictates good weeks and bad weeks at many clubs.

My only question around the Morfa would be the cost variance on building and maintenance of those additional 5,000 seats, and the likely effect that this differential will have overall on viability.

In this part of the world, while you may not fill the Morfa with sports fans week after week, there is every chance that you would fill it on a fairly regular basis with any good touring band. We have been promised a good venue for music since long before Homebase took the proposed hallowed site for our rock concert arena on the North Dock car park. The commercial viability of this building project cannot hinge on 5,000 seats surely. Fill the place with whatever events you can, but get it built, build it right, and get us up there. We are always going to struggle financially at Vetch Field, due to its all-round limitations, give us the chance to make some positive progress.

I read the news today, oh boy!

The list of clubs facing serious financial threat is ever growing, and even Delia, of boiled egg and other culinary delights fame, was heard on a radio chat show recently as stating that a Premiership club will eventually collapse. They are all there chasing the golden egg, and having read in recent articles just how many of these 'big' clubs are continuing heavily on the back of having mortgaged their survival against anticipated TV income, it can only be a matter of time.

The following is taken from a posting this week on the Supporters' Direct Mailing list and illustrates the current plight of some top flight, and even some lower division clubs. If ever there was an advertisement for not chasing the end of the rainbow, this must surely be it. The figures are high, and the potential still good, but the fine line is there for all to see, and the impact that the loss of just one major financial deal could have on some of these clubs puts a lot into perspective.

"Press speculation surrounding a possible management buyout of Leeds United Football Club could well mark the end of many clubs' flirtations with the difficult to please London Stock Exchange.  

This week's Sunday Telegraph reported that Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale was planning an MBO of the struggling company. Leeds shares have fallen from a high of 47p in 1997 to just 8.25p at yesterday's close, valuing the group at just £28.7m. The club's players have been independently valued at £171m. BSkyB paid £10m for an 8.8% stake in Leeds in August 1999. This holding is now worth just £2.5m.

Turnover at the Premiership club has grown from £15.5m in 1997 to £86.3m last year. But throughout this period the group has continued to make a loss. Heavy spending in the transfer market and a huge increase in its wage bill is expected to push current year losses to £27.8m rising to a whopping £49.2m next year.

The club has been allowed to spend heavily chasing Premiership heavyweights Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, in particular shelling out almost £30m on defender Rio Ferdinand and former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler. The returns on Ridsdale's gamble appear thin. And with the club currently sitting at sixth position in the Premiership, there is little hope that they will qualify for a cherished position in the European Champions League.

Earlier this season Ridsdale warned he may need to sell off some of the club's players unless it qualified for a Champions League place. The European competition offers vast riches to those who can make the grade. Last year Manchester United banked an extra £23.6m by reaching the quarterfinals.

The situation gets worse as you look further down the divisions. Shares in debt-ridden Nottingham Forest have been suspended at 12p since December because the company failed to publish its accounts. The plc owns approximately 60% of the football club but could see this stake fall to just 15% if millionaire businessman Nigel Doughty, who holds the remaining shares in the club, bails out the struggling First Division side.

Forest's gamble was to amass an overdraft of £20m in the hope that it could bounce back into the Premiership. Having failed, the overdraft needs to be cleared and the sell-off of its players has begun.

It will issue a further £5m worth of shares but unless the plc can raise £2.25m in order to take up its entitlement, Doughty will take the lot and win control of the club. Should this happen the plc will effectively become a cashless shell with a 15% stake in a run-of-the-mill football club.

The move leaves the spotlight on a number of bombed out football clubs, whose rock bottom share prices leave them open to an MBO or similar deal.

Shares in Newcastle United debuted at 140p when they listed in 1997. A steady decline over the last five years leaves them languishing at just 25.5p, valuing the club at £37m. Directors Freddie Shepherd and Doug Hall, who netted a small fortune when they first floated the club, have expressed an interest in buying it back.

Other clubs with low valuations include Hearts at £7.7m, Birmingham City at £15m, Leicester City at £6.9m, Southampton Leisure at £12.5m and Charlton Athletic at £12m. Burnden Leisure, which owns Bolton Wanderers, is capitalised at just £6m.

Four Seasons In One Day

This could probably apply metaphorically to many a day down at Vetch Field this season when the highs and lows and have been mixed with the very average. It certainly applies to most games recently, and it was very appropriate to the journey to Halifax last Saturday when the battle-hardy away fans met with the entire spectrum of weather over the 270-mile trip. It could also summarise the many, often daily, debates doing the circuit at the moment, aside from the management contract issue, which I touched on last week, and which has had great coverage since that ultimatum was issued after the Halifax match.

The pleasure of reading all the arguments is that you get so many peoples' perspectives and priorities on a wide range of issues. Good news stories, bad news stories, and it does allow those reading it all to draw up a reasonably balanced view of all the considerations.

And finally, on a personal note, I'd like to thank the kind soul who gave me this bug that I've had since Monday and which meant that on Tuesday night I missed seeing what by all accounts was, and will always be, one of the best free kick (as opposed to freak hic!) goals to be seen at Vetch Field. So Mr Mumford, if you could just rustle up another one for me on Friday night against Hull, I'd be very happy.

Let the music (and the football) play.

If anyone has any feedback to give me, I'd love to hear from you at pauly@scfc.co.uk