The Misery Drags On

A week after Ilkeston's players went on strike, the club has assured the Northern Premier League that they will fulfill their fixtures. The players, some unpaid since before Christmas, have agreed to see out the season without wages.

It is reported that the power supply to their ground has been cut off due to non-payment of electricity bills, and some office staff have gone unpaid for up to six months as the club, which started the season under suspension for non-payment of football debts, seeks a buyer.

Meanwhile over at National South side Gosport Borough, HMRC have submitted a winding up petition for the fourth time in 12 months. The club says the quarterly VAT bill was due early last month and an offer to settle it by last week was rejected. Chairman Mark Hook went to the press to lay some of the blame at former Vice Chairman Jim Fallon's door, saying he changed his mind on a £40,000 sponsorship deal at the last minute.

Fallon himself had only just completed a three and a half year ban from football during a previous stint at Gosport with the FA finding him guilty of transfer irregularities, something which he still denies. The events left Fallon threatening to sue the club over loans he had made totalling £84,000.

Gosport are currently four points the wrong side of the relegation line with just four matches remaining and, like Ilkeston, are looking for new owners.

Over at Leyton Orient, their youth side put in a valiant effort but ultimately lost 3-0 at Cambridge United in League Two. The majority of the club's First Team had become injured with wages still unpaid leaving a youthful side, whose starting XI squad numbers included 4 and 7 and then nothing under 22, to toil towards an almost inevitable relegation from the Football League.

The club are now ten points adrift of safety with five games remaining, and could be relegated on Friday after their match at Luton. That may be a blessing in disguise, with one of their two Doctors walking out last week due to non-payment.

In Football League matches, two Doctors are required - one for the players, and a second for the crowd - meaning Monday's crunch game with 22nd place Hartlepool may not be allowed to go ahead.