A Near Miss

So, last June I suffered a stroke and almost died. How lucky was I? Incredibly.

I woke up on a Sunday morning. Went to the bathroom, picked up a couple of shirts to wash, and went downstairs. I stopped at my desk and collected some rubbish, went to the kitchen. On arriving at the bin I had no rubbish in one hand. The shirts were still in the other. I had no idea what happened.

Then it went blank. Briefly.

My eyes blurred. My thoughts went. It might have been a second but it was very scary. I lurched towards the washing machine to put the shirts in. I managed to open the door, put the shirts into the machine. And nothing else.

I staggered back into the corner of my kitchen, between sink and work surface. My right side wedged into the corner as it shut down in a systematic fashion. My arm was immovable, my leg followed. I had no idea what was happening. 

My left side was functioning. I grabbed a cup from nearby, put it on the sink floor, and turned the tap on. Had a sip. No change. Fuck. I was in trouble. I didn't know why I thought water would cure the situation, I just now knew it wasn't the answer.

If this had happened a few seconds earlier I would have been at the top of the stairs and tumbled down. If I had done the usual and put my phone on charge in the morning it would have been in another room and help would be unobtainable. As it was, it was in the pocket of my functioning left side.

If. If. If.

I rang the emergency services. They responded quickly. The ambulance was there in minutes. With the doors locked, the Fire Brigade were there not long after to break in. They got me out and into hospital in good time.

And I say good time because what happened next needed to be done in good time.

On the journey my face slipped, my speech slurred, all the signs of a stroke. Without what happened next I would have spent six months in hospital and the same again - at least - recovering at home.

They rushed me in, did their tests, consulted with a specialist in Birmingham, and offered me a drug new to the frontline that I was quick enough into the hospital to be capable of having.

And I'm living proof that science works.

Afterwards I was told it was the first time in the same day that two patients had been given the drug in Hereford County Hospital. It was that new. Both of us recovered.

While I had survived the stroke, I then had to survive the recovery. And you will never realise how debilitating a  hospital stay is until you've experienced it.

The only time my feet touched the floor in two weeks was to move from bed to chair. No further. It was strictly forbidden. Bedpans and Bedbaths, the X-rated Disney film no independent self respecting forty-something wants to be involved in.

When I was eventually asked to stand up after that time my ankles felt like they were rotating wildly like disco lights. It took two full days to be able to stand up with any confidence.

Over the next two weeks I became able to walk short distances. It's amazing how fast the body ceases to function when total inertia sets in. Then I attempted stairs. Three. Then six. Then a full flight.

The hospital spent three days trying to farm me out to Ross Community Hospital for further care. Ross didn't want me. Said they didn't cater for such a patient. I was classed as bariatric. Something I was when going in but, due to the diagnosis, I was no longer.

I had been diagnosed with water retention. Stemming, it seems, from my cancer treatment in 2012 and the drugs administered at the time. My weight had ballooned in the previous couple of months to a point of crisis.

In six weeks, after being put on water loss tablets, I lost 12 stone.

The sheer quantity of loss mystified everyone. I had been, apart from the sudden gain, pretty much the same weight for years. Now I was a lot less. I was now the same weight I had been in college, nearly 30 years ago.

Cue the purchase of a full new wardrobe of clothes... still with the same bland taste!

Since coming home I've had a very slow adaptation to the new reality of life. After coming out of hospital I spent another month at home with a catheter inserted, losing more weight, so ordered groceries to be delivered to the house.

When the catheter was finally removed I went to fetch milk. Carrying a four pint plastic bottle 20 yards to the checkout felt like the movement of an atlas stone. It was my full effort not to drop it or collapse under the weight.

The recovery wasn't necessarily from the illness, it was now the recovery from the treatment.

The month in hospital caused more damage to me than the stroke, but it was necessary to allow the cure to be successful. I slowly built my strength back up and returned to work - a desk job - a month later on shorter hours.

I've got a long journey to go. I'm good with many things but still struggle with some mundane stuff. I've got things that will not change and will restrict what I can do for the rest of my life. But I do have a life.

 And that is down to the good people at Hereford County Hospital.

"Taken The Club As Far As We Can"

It's fairly rare that a football club owner will admit defeat in their aims, but at Gateshead realism seems to be plentiful.

Three years after taking over the club, husband and wife pair Richard and Julie Bennett have uttered the title words in their statement putting the club back up for sale. They bought the club from Graham Wood, who spent nine years at the helm before admitting that his age was against him in his plan to return the Heed to the Football League.

The original club had lost their place in the 92 in 1960, and had subsequently gone bust twice in quick succession before Wood's arrival established them as a fifth tier full time club. Wood planned not only further progress on the field, but also off it with an ambitious new stadium. Neither have been realised, with Wood abandoning plans to move ground a couple of years before his own departure.

The well proportioned, but unsuited to football, International Stadium gives a limited appeal to the traditional football supporter and attendances have barely moved since its appearance in the fifth tier. A 30% surge in attendances after a play-off final defeat in 2013/14 wasn't retained, and just nine more people watch the Heed on average than did so six seasons ago. Their average attendance being the second worst in the division and one of only four totaling less than 1000, and propped up only by a bumper Boxing Day gate against local rivals Hartlepool. Three of their gates since that 3,500 attendance haven't exceeded 500 and are around 30% down match-by-match on attendances 12 months ago.

In reality, there seems to be little further for Gateshead to go under current circumstances. Dwarfed massively by their near neighbours Newcastle United, the Heed are an unattractive destination. Despite offering one of the cheapest admission prices in the league, and even cheaper for Newcastle or Sunderland season ticket holders, the club has been unable to hold on to any supporters it has attracted through on-field success and the full time model will have to be reviewed if the current downward trend on gates continues.

On the pitch the club has been quietly losing ground on its rivals. From the Wembley play-off final defeat the club has been a dozen points shy of the play-offs in each season since. This term the gap is 18 points so far even if their place in the table has barely moved.

The Club Statement advising the club is up for sale notes the club is being offered debt free, but it appears that any new owner would need deep pockets just to stand still in the tide.

Lane Of Woe

Once non-league titans, Worcester City now sit in a sorry mess of the club's own making. Homeless and nearing penniless, it has recorded a near £300,000 loss for last season to reduce its war chest from the sale of St George's Lane to only a couple of hundred thousand.

Current estimates say the club is expecting a loss this season of £60,000 in the officially amateur Step 5 Midland Football League where many of the lower end clubs barely pay players at all. However, at the top end, contracts are issued and six-figure overall wage budgets are common.

Chairman Anthony Hampson, a divisive figure among supporters having presided over much of their misfortune over the past ten years, says an 'out of control' wage bill was to blame for the losses with a £7,000-£8,000 a week budget planned during their final season in the National League North. Former Manager Carl Heeley has disputed Hampson's account, saying also becoming a Director of the club was the worst move of his career.

This season's loss will leave the club with around £150,000 of the proceeds of the sale of St Georges Lane, having spent £600,000 exiting a fruitless agreement with a developer to build a new stadium, and losing another £500,000 plus in the intervening years of homelessness.

Hampson says the club may have to go 'fully amateur' to afford a new stadium, with one Director - Club Secretary Kevin Preece - resigning his Directorship this week and calling for an AGM, the club's first in two years, to tell shareholders the true picture around the club. Joint Manager Lee Hughes followed shortly after, opting to move back up the divisions to Halesowen Town, saying that different Directors told him different things about Hampson's comments.

A second player exodus in 12 months is widely believed to be on the cards with the side holding only a slim chance of promotion back to the semi-pro ranks, currently sitting nine points below their landlords and derby rivals Bromsgrove Sporting, themselves at a low ebb after a major financial disaster.

Chasing The Deadly Dream

Barely a year after a takeover, Dagenham and Redbridge are the latest in a suddenly large list of National League clubs that are struggling for funds.

It has been little more than ten years since the ambitious Daggers ditched their 'owned by members' model to become the limited company that Football League rules demanded. Promotion to the fourth tier followed and a nine year stay followed. Relegation in 2016 sent them back and began their money troubles.

A consortium sealed a takeover in January 2017, coupled with a £1.3million injection, after the members turned shareholders voted in favour of the deal. That cash ran out early in the current season with chief funder Glyn Hopkin resigning his Board position and ceasing further cash injections at the end of 2017.

Hopkin blamed, in part, a campaign by supporters to oust the club's Managing Director, with a string of flags - including a North Korean one - displayed at games to infer the official's running of the club was akin to the secretive state.

On the pitch the club are five points short of the play-offs, having failed in last season's lottery to regain a spot among the 92. Out of both the FA Cup and Trophy at the first hurdle, the club have now circulated to clubs that they have 'a number of players' available for transfer. With no names listed, it usually means they will listen to any offers. First out the door was England C striker Morgan Ferrier back to old club Boreham Wood, while Sam Ling joined Leyton Orient. Both within 24 hours of the circular.

However Dagenham are far from the only club in trouble. Chester and Hartlepool have had their problems highlighted in recent weeks, while the mistrust over Torquay's owners continue and Woking's long awaited takeover leaves them in mid-table obscurity.

A step lower in the pyramid, Telford are only in existence due to the generosity of Wolves and their use of the ground for second string fixtures, while York City are claimed to need further seven-figure funding to secure their future before a move into the new stadium that was first due for completion in 2010 but has barely begun construction. Their long time majority owner, Jason McGill, has set an ultimatum to the minority owner, the Supporters Trust, to hand over their shares to ensure he continues to fund the sixth tier side, having needed to put in £90,000 last month to cover the wage bill.

Chasing the Football League prize is beginning to look like a very deadly dream.

The Russian Football Debacle

So, this isn't going to be necessarily true.

My parents ran the British Embassy bar in Moscow for a number of years during the Cold War. Both served in the Forces, and got married specifically to take the posting in Moscow in the late 1960s. They spent several years in Moscow running a bar and providing alcohol to functions hosted at the Embassy up to the end of 1971.

This is a story recounted by my father. He died in 1993. But, with the World Cup due to take place in Russia, it's probably apt that this story gets aired one more time. It's the only football related story of their time there.

Northern Ireland were set to play a match in Moscow. George Best, then given the unofficial title of the World's best footballer, was going to be in Moscow. It was 1969, and the two teams had just had a goalless draw in Belfast before a rematch barely a month later.

George Best played in the first game, but not the second. So I can't confirm whether George Best actually appeared. There seems to be no proof, no photographic evidence I can find. Just the anecdote.

The Russians were pleased to be hosting the greatest footballer in the world, and wanted to mark the occasion with something special. That was a large bottle of Vodka, presented before the game.

And, by large, it varied from being a metre tall to being as big as George Best himself depending on the retelling. This wasn't the Vodka of norm either. This was special Russian Vodka. Way over the ABV of that sold in the UK. Apparently.

The Northern Ireland team played in front of over 100,000 people that day and lost. They wanted to drown their sorrows. The problem was, this was a Police state. There were few bars that could host them.

So, off to the Embassy they went.

First the pints were poured, then the shorts, then the huge bottle of Vodka was opened. The team and the associated entourage drank everything in sight. And, as the son of Irish immigrants himself, my father joined them.

The only problem was that the bar operated under UK licencing laws. Back then it had to shut in the afternoon, and come 11pm the bar had to shut entirely. The on-site Police made sure of it. The visiting footballers asked if there was another - friendly - bar they could go to. There was. And it was open 24 hours.

They apparently wrecked the US Embassy bar and had to be escorted back to their hotel in the early hours by armed guard. Whether much of it is true is open to debate. History only records the 2-0 loss and not the post-match antics.

But, you'd like to hope it is true.

The Song Remains The Same

A new HUFC but the same crisis. Hartlepool United face an incredibly similar situation to Hereford United with a looming set of bills threatening their existence.

Both HUFCs were in Council-owned grounds, had a lengthy period of financial stability under owners that didn't necessarily have universal backing, and came to a financial meltdown in a hasty way following relegation.

While the Hereford United collapse took four years from the transfer of ownership from good to bad, it was in the Court facing a winding-up petition within two and a half. Hartlepool have reached crisis in similar time. In both cases the alarm bells really sounded after the loss of Football League status.

This week's stark calls for £200,000 in fourteen days to keep the club afloat come after a series of disastrous Boardroom appointments. The original bidders, Stephen Murrall and Peter Harris, were eventually convicted of fraud over their bid for the club, having helped themselves to gate receipts they weren't entitled to.

Their replacement, Gary Coxall, was declared bankrupt shortly after his tenure ended in May leaving Sage Investments holding the incredibly cash hungry baby that slipped out of the Football League shortly after Coxall's resignation. From stability in 2015 under the less than popular Ken Hodcroft to owing a reported £1.8million - mostly to Sage Investments - and needing a further six-figure sum in short order just two and a half years later.

The Supporters Trust have kept their powder dry so far, going only so far as to back supporters fundraising efforts. £11,000 and counting has been donated to a Just Giving page, with Middlesborough fans - mindful of their 1986 eviction and the assistance they had from Hartlepool while they were locked out of Ayresome Park - donating generously.

Sage Investments are reported to be looking for some of their debt to be returned with the club up for sale. Any bidder with good intentions for the club will demand every penny be written off. No sane businessman would buy a cash burning machine with debt already attached and, with both reported interested parties outside the UK, the likelihood of a millionaire fan making an altrusitic gesture is incredibly slim. We've been there.

The fans of the club may have to come to a realisation - that the club will only lurch from crisis to crisis without substantial investment over the next six months. There may well be no saviour that will throw sufficient money into the hole to plug it up. The debts will keep on coming into the summer as the players remain contracted to the club, so there's probably another £1million needed there. We've been there.

Administration isn't an option, not in the National League with their debt repayment rules. It'll buy time but will not reduce the sums owed. Agree with creditors to slash debts - or reach no deal at all - and the club will be demoted to Step 3. We've been there.

It is an unfortunate situation, not of the fans making, and there is an unfortunate outcome that will see the company die. But the club - the fans - will live on in the Council owned ground with a sensible business plan.

We've been there.

Pompey Agree To Eisner Deal

Billionaire Michael Eisner is set to become Portsmouth's new owner after the majority shareholders agreed to sell to the former Disney man.

Over 75% of the shareholders, including the Supporters Trust and the 'Pompey Presidents', voted in favour of the move meaning Eisner will now effectively repay shareholders their original investment and put a further £10million into the club whose Fratton Park stadium requires substantial repair.

80% of Trust members voted in favour, as did 75% of the Presidents with 81.4% of the total shareholding backing the move.

For some, like former Supporters Direct stalwart Kevin Rye, the decision is a dark day and - with nearly 20% of the shareholding against the proposal - that is significant opposition to selling to a scenario that previously saw the club plunge into peril. Eisner, and his Tornante vehicle, has set out a vision that will do to Portsmouth FC what Eisner did to Disney - commercialise the business to the further possible degree - but that he will protect the 'heritage' of the club.

The supporters of Portsmouth are in for interesting times. The EFL had already announced that most - if not all - games would be streamed live to a global audience for an estimated £110 a season per club and Eisner is likely to be keen to promote the Portsmouth 'brand' and 'heritage' outside the traditional area.

He will undoubtedly bring innovations in marketing previously unseen in football. Whether the traditional supporter will agree with them is another matter.

Full Time For Part Time

National League side Aldershot are now offering 52 week contracts to players in a bid stop them being poached by other sides. They say the move is a 'calculated risk' in adding a further eight weeks of pay to the existing 44 week schedule that National League sides usually offer.

With the administrative 'season' ending on June 30th, usually National League sides would sign players from July 1st through to the end of the playing season in early May, but the Shots will now go through to June 30th to match deals offered in the Football League.

The move is a further step towards the National League ending being a part time competition. Chester boss Jon McCarthy says that only his side may be part time next season:

“Next season, you could argue that there will only be Chester that are part time. I know you have the likes of a Dover that will stay part time, but in terms of finances and the way that they work things they are very much full time.

“I think it could be that next season is the last ever season where there is a part time element to the National League. It is turning into the old Fourth Division, which I did play in, and this is League Two standard."

Trouble Up North

A trio of National North sides are undergoing ownership issues.

Telford's second attempt at selling shares in the club has been 'disappointing' according to the club.

Just £17,700 of additional shares were purchased in the second window, and no major investor stepped forward following the abolition of ownership limits. Around 65% of the shares still remain unsold and, although technically not currently on sale, the club's Board will consider approaches.

The Board itself has advertised for reinforcements, in a week that has seen club General Manager Sharon Bowyer step down from her role due to family commitments after beginning work for the club when it was reformed.

The Shropshire side say the lack of share sales won't affect next season's budget.

Meanwhile newly relegated Southport have announced a six figure investment from an accountant and a financial advisor, both businessmen in the town. The investment comes as a second businessman claims his offer for the club was totally ignored, while the club's Board went through an unpleasant series of appointments and departures.

Former manager Liam Watson was only recently appointed to the Board but saw his appointment, and that of two others, thrown out due to limitations on the size of the Board in the club's constitution. Watson was subsequently made redundant, with current manager Andy Preece told to re-apply for his job.

Long serving chairman Charlie Clapham will step down from the club, having been a polarising figure among supporters.

Elsewhere, a surprising figure is riding to Darlington's aid.

Raj Singh, previously the chairman and owner of the liquidated Darlington club, has offered £40,000 towards next season's budget in exchange for shares in the club. The move, announced yesterday, will have to go to a vote of shareholders and has already met significant opposition due to Singh's involvement in the collapse five years ago.

A fourth National North side, newly relegated York City, have also released financial results for their final season in the Football League which report a £300,000 loss. A further similar loss is expected for the 16/17 season despite them falling straight through the fifth tier, and the club continues to rely on owner Jason McGill.

McGill's firm, JM Packaging, is now owed over £4,7million, repayable when the club's long delayed move to a new stadium - that remain in planning hell - is finally completed.

A Rare Glimpse Of Real Life

In a week when the EFL deliberately and willfully agreed to lie to supporters it has finally admitted what has been blatantly obvious for some time.

The EFL says it made a 'difficult decision' in allowing supporters to be lied to about the abandonment of a match, between Leyton Orient and Colchester, but admitted that it was powerless to stop rogue owners. Their own statement notes 'the decision was taken by the EFL to announce the abandonment of the game to clear the pitch and when it was safe, allow the players to return to complete the fixture.'

The statement also states that the EFL wants to protect the legitimacy of the competition which, in a season when teams have been fined for fielding reserve sides against Academy sides from higher grade teams (effectively a third string XI), and now sees honest paying customers fail to watch the match they forked out money to see, legitimate is no longer a word that can be used to describe the EFL.

The only decent thing the EFL have done is acknowledge what everyone knew. That their limited rules on owners were unenforceable and they were powerless to prevent rogue club owners. All the stern words, the threats, and the false hopes over the past years amounted to not one iota of real action. It was nothing more than the illusion of power.

Since their rebranding from the Football League last summer, the EFL has been massively devalued in terms of the integrity that it wishes to protect. Chief Executive Shaun Harvey has repeatedly enraged supporters, who he appears to care little about, with a series of ridiculous ideas that has seen the Checkatrade Trophy turn into the Mickey Mouse cup that many fans jokingly referred to it as - even going as far as bending the rules of the competition to suit the bigger sides.

The actions at Brisbane Road last Saturday should have the FA demand answers from the EFL and Harvey as to why the lifeblood of the game was treated with such utter contempt.

But, in a world of inaction, I won't be holding my breath.

Pomp And Circumstance

A lengthy document was sent out by the Portsmouth Supporters Trust in the past week detailing the club's current predicament and the offer from Michael Eisner and his Tornante vehicle. The document lists a number of things, but a subsequent club statement spelled out the stark message -

Fratton Park is falling down.

Compliance to keep Fratton Park up to capacity in line with the 'Green Guide' - the bible of operating a sports stadium - will cost the club £5million in the coming five years. The club say they have £900,000 of shareholder funds left and no prospect of funding the other work without dipping into the playing budget, meaning sections of the stadium would have to close.

Their story is a familiar one. "Recommended" works that were neglected in previous years by failing owners now became urgent and the funding required quickly added up. Instead of doing one years work in one year, you have ten years work to do in five.

A stadium that is the biggest asset of most clubs suddenly becomes the biggest liability also.

Portsmouth can ill afford to reduce capacity from the current 18,931. Average attendance this season is 16,771 - a lower end Championship average - and Saturday's final match against Cheltenham sold out nearly a month ago. The club has less than 10% of its capacity spare each game with the largest attendance just 300 under capacity.

With the news of the cash shortage, Eisner addressed supporters last night to lay out his proposal. Shareholders would effectively get their money back, the Trust would be removed from the Board in favour of a 'heritage' option, Eisner would put in an additional £10million, and the offer was take-it or leave-it.

The Supporters Trust then offered an alternative funding method, asking 8,000 supporters to put in £15 a month  - over £500 each over three years - to fund repair works. The Trust has not recommended an option, leaving it to the individual supporter to make up their mind.

The Pompey Supporters have a difficult decision but a Championship level club without a millionaire or billionaire backer is not going to compete at that level any more.

Hanging In The Balance

Hartlepool's 'owner' Gary Coxall has quit the club, and pushed the agenda towards supporter ownership on the eve of their do-or-die last game of the season to secure League survival.

The Monkey Hangers need to win their final match, at home to title contenders Doncaster, and hope Newport fail to beat mid-table Notts County in order to secure their League Two place. They have failed to record a win in the last ten matches, a run that cost manager Dave Jones his job, and have slashed admission prices for Saturday's game to £5 in a bid to pack out the ground.

Quite why a Dubai based recruitment firm owned a Northern football side with a Council owned ground has always been puzzling. JPNG took over less than two years ago with an Ilford, Essex UK base and immediately raised eyebrows. Coxall arrived with a partner, Peter Goldberg, whose disappearance from the scene led to a series of cash crises that led to a pair of winding-up petitions and wages being delayed.

In March this year, a Debenture was registered against the club at Companies House, one of four charges currently secured on the assets of the club including the lease of the ground. The 'borrower' on the debenture is Coxall as Chairman of the club. The 'lender' John Blackledge of Sage Investments Limited. The deal was brokered by Matt Haycox for Access Finance in Leeds. Whether Haycox is the same person listed at Companies House as a disqualified Director is unknown, nor would it prevent him from brokering the deal.

According to Companies House, Sage Investments has a Director who resigned in 2004 called Pamela Jane Duxbury. Coxall has handed the Chairman's role to the club's recently installed Finance Director - Pam Duxbury - apparently working on behalf of Sage, but infers from his statement that he retains ownership of the club.

Quite the extent of the debt to Sage Investments, or the current ownership picture of the club, remains up in the air. Debate rages on what percentages of the club Coxall, Sage, and Goldberg own with little firm evidence

However if Coxall was a poor choice of owner, the other option on the table was even worse. Peter Harris and Stephen Murrall, of "The Monkey Hangers" consortium who attempted a takeover prior to JPNG, are now facing a fraud trial relating to a series of people and HMRC in the run up to their bid failure.

Duxbury has been quick to pursue ownership talks with the Supporters Trust, holding a meeting on the evening of Coxall's announcement, but the Trust say they have no short or long term agenda to own the club.

Failure on Saturday could well see another HUFC plunged into the abyss.

Darlo Facing Cash Questions

Five years after reforming, Darlington have admitted they are facing a cash crisis and are seeking talks with potential investors.

The club has been told it will not be able to compete in the National North play-offs after failing to meet ground grading requirements. They are one of three clubs barred by the League due to not having 500 seats under cover - a League requirement rather than a FA one - with all three appealing the decision.

However two Darlington Directors have resigned over the issue, and a third is considering his position, citing 'vitriol' from supporters in the wake of the news. The club says that they could not afford the six-figure cost of installing the seating anyway, with losses mounting following their move back to Darlington after an enforced exile in Bishop Auckland, and would struggle to raise the £500,000 needed to achieve the full 'A' grading needed to remain at National Premier level, let alone the financial needs on the pitch.

The supporter owned club has reported debts of £80,000 and has required a £50,000 loan from Directors and outside supporters to stay afloat this season. Operating costs of £35,000 over budget this season were compounded by income underperforming by £30,000 under the projected figures, with £15,000 of debt still on the books from last season.

Manager Martin Gray has been told to cut his budget by £85,000 for the coming season to balance the books, with the triple promotion winner warning supporters that he will leave if that is the case. Gray says he needs a £400,000 budget to compete at National North level - £10,000 a week on part time deals - with the club finances showing that 70% of income was directed to the playing budget.

Gray says the ownership model has to change to compete at their level and above, telling a supporter forum 'as a fan owned club we have gone as far as we can go. We need a different direction for this football club to go forward. We are an embarrassment, a laughing stock in the football world.'

Gray says he is in talks with investors who are capable of pushing the club forward, but that the supporters will have to accept a minority stake for it to happen.

Money No Object, Object To No Money

Portsmouth's takeover discussions should lead to a Supporters Trust representative remaining on the Board, according to a survey by the Trust.

The view appears to be at odds to early statements from Michael Eisner, who sees the supporters being part of a 'heritage' board to protect the finer details of the Portsmouth 'brand' rather than the operational running of the club.

More than 2000 supporters largely backed talks with the former Disney chief, and generally thought the club would be able to achieve a higher league placing with a Billionaire behind them than the current ownership setup, although they wanted to retain a supporter voice on the club Board.

However when it came to funding a new stadium and increased investment in the playing budget, supporters voted for new shareholders or owners to be the ones to cover the financial needs, with less than 10% of respondents expecting the current shareholders, including the supporters, to cover the bills.

Nearly half of respondents had 'no reservations' on Eisner buying the club, with an almost equal number not wanting a single person owning the club again.

Meanwhile the single owner model remains badly broken at Leyton Orient. Off-field staff have issued a statement saying they have started a grievance process with the club over unpaid wages, but that the complaint has not been responded to.

Staff still have not received their March wages, with little more than a week until April's sums are due, and have received no communication as to whether they will receive the money either.

Over at National League Barrow, their single owner model has just recorded a £1million debt to their owner over the past trading year. Owner Paul Casson loaned the club £990,754 in the past 12 months to the end of May 2016, with the US based businessman telling the press he had no intention of calling in the debt.

That £1million investment saw the Bluebirds end the 2015/16 season in 9th place, ten points outside the play-offs. This season they are in 7th place, outside the play-offs by four points with just two games remaining.

With a similar debt likely to have been accumulated this season the Bluebirds are likely to be nearly £3million in debt by the time the current financial year is complete, on fairly static average attendances of 1300.

You Can't Say We Didn't Tell You

A small uproar has erupted in the IT community over Microsoft's decision that it will no longer support new hardware on anything other than Windows 10.

In a rare occurrence, I'm actually going to back Microsoft on this one. They've had that stance for 15 months. It was January 2016 that they posted that they wouldn't continue software fixes for Windows 7 and 8.1 (having already ditched 8 as the bad job that it was) to the newest generation of processors.

The new processors are literally new. AMD's Ryzen was announced 5 months ago, Intel's 7th Generation of Core processors came out in January. Only the hardcore "must have" people will be running these right now.

Microsoft have a habit of ditching old tech - if not old operating systems - to drive PC sales and, subsequently, their licence sales. Their switch to "Windows as a Service" with an app store in the Apple mould is the recognition that - as Apple found - the basic software that drives the machine should essentially be free, with everything else a paid-for add-on.

The main issue Microsoft will find now is that their eco-system is overgrown with other products. Don't want to pay for Word? Here's Open Office. The Windows system has, for the last 25 years, nurtured a stream of bedroom programmers to bring a deluge of software to the platform that Apple can't even come close to matching.

It's all a bit Frankenstein's Monster, but the drive for new tech has gone from the desktop to the mobile screen. Something Microsoft doesn't have dominance of.

Microsoft accidentally built the beast they are now hopeful of containing. It's not likely, at least in the short term, but they are hopeful. Revenues at the Gates-inspired conglomo-fest are struggling, with the switch of Office to a subscription model probably the only thing keeping the Microsoft executives from not being in a full-on panic.

Windows is now such a throwaway item, anyone is able to get it for free in exchange for a single 'white lie' click on a particular Microsoft website. It's the unpublished loophole in the licencing agreements that Microsoft sign with equipment manufacturers in a bid to keep Windows as the dominant player in the increasingly irrelevant desktop game.

Google's Android operating system is now so big, thanks to mobiles and tablets, that Microsoft is genuinely under threat as the supplier to the world. Google are to make major plays into the Business sector, from the traditional home market they are now dominating, and there are plenty of companies now reliant on Google services to find an Android or Chrome infrastructure an acceptable one.

We are all going to be assimilated. Microsoft still hope it will be with them.

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.

An All Cash Business

For nearly two years Carlisle United have been in discussions with a Billionaire investor.

Under the secrecy of non-disclosure agreements details of the individual were scant. Huge claims were made, offers considered and rejected. The 'billionaire'? A Syrian former pizza shop owner living in Canada.

Yahya Kirdi had previously tried to buy Liverpool in 2010, claiming to represent a group of Middle East investors. Fans dubbed it "the joke bid" with plans to rebuild the Anfield stadium with a solarium(!) whilst he also claimed to have placed a £162million order for passenger aircraft that the manufacturer named confirmed did not exist.

Claims Kirdi was a former international footballer were dismissed, and his spokesman expressed surprise when official documents were sent to him detailing Kirdi as the former owner of a small - failed - pizza takeaway in Canada.

The bid for Liverpool was withdrawn a few months after it became public. Five years later Kirdi started negotiations with Carlisle. He also appears to have tried to buy other clubs around Europe without success.

Carlisle have now turned to the owner of Edinburgh Woolen Mill for temporary funding after declaring Kirdi's plans as unrealistic on both squad budgeting and the development of Brunton Park.

Meanwhile over at National South side Chelmsford City, a long standing takeover has suddenly collapsed. Jade Global Group (JGG) were announced more than 12 months ago as ready to take over the club, passing a club shareholder vote last July.

JGG owner Kevin Allen resigned at the end of January, being replaced by a Michael Mescal, aged 62 according to documents filed at Companies House.

A Michael Mescal was convicted in an Italian court in July 2000 for drug smuggling, aged 46. Whether it is the same person is open to debate, but the press reports at the time hint the pair to be of a similar age. A separate entry on Companies House for a Michael Mescal, also born in May 1954, set up a construction company in January.

For Chelmsford themselves, their Chairman and Legal Counsel have resigned from their Board positions and the club now faces an EGM in the next few weeks to agree a way forward with 'short term financial pressure' on the club.

Invest To Improve

Telford have put their remaining shares back on sale and have expressed a hope to sell most of the remaining £344,000 worth.

A club statement says that 137 supporters bought shares in the last round, having had just 123 vote in the original decision to scrap supporter ownership of the reborn club. The statement came a few days after a statement on the club's Early Bird Season Tickets, noting that just 111 had been sold compared to 425 in the same period last year.

There seems to be a very committed ten percent of supporters still at the club but the majority seem to have lost a certain level of interest. They still come to games, over 1,100 last week for their win over Worcester, but the successive seasons of dismal results that has seen them fall out of the National Premier and have two seasons at the wrong end of National North have worn the bulk of supporters down in their levels of support.

A 3-0 loss to fellow strugglers Boston yesterday further cemented their bottom six place and, although they are highly unlikely to go down, a third season of struggle will not be tolerated for a club once considered to be a rising star.

Elsewhere, Darlington have had their name change ratified by the FA. The club recently moved back to the town and will now drop the 1883 suffix to their name that they were forced to adopt to differentiate themselves from the failed club when they reformed five years ago.

With echoes of activities closer to home, the club are currently under investigation by the FA for crowd disorder at a recent game where smoke bombs and alcohol were thrown onto a pitch. The club has already banned a number of people from attending further matches.

Paying The Dues

Three clubs have failed to pay their players and staff in the past week leading to further doubt about their futures.

At Northern Premier League side Ilkeston FC, 14 points inside the relegation zone, club captain Matt Baker took to a fans forum to state that many of the players refused to play in yesterday's game at Workington after being unpaid for several months, causing the match to be postponed.

The club were only formed in 2010 after the demise of Ilkeston Town, then of National North, who went bust in September 2010 due to a £47,000 tax bill. They restarted at Step 4, winning promotion in front of over 1,600 supporters in the first season but gates have tumbled over the last 12 months as the club intensified its focus on an Academy structure, with much of their first team teenagers on full time deals.

An average of 300 through the doors this season is just two thirds of last season's number, which had remained largely static since their promotion. The league will now seek assurances that the club will fulfill the remaining fixtures with a long hoped-for takeover still seemingly no closer.

Meanwhile Morecambe's players and staff have found their wages delayed for a third time this season. The club's owner, or at least the one currently having the strongest claim to ownership, says an 'international money transfer' was delayed leading to the failure to pay. The club's players responded on Saturday with a 3-1 loss at Cheltenham as they sunk to within 10 points of the relegation zone, albeit with only six games remaining.

Elsewhere, Leyton Orient's failure to pay saw another manager out of the door. Danny Webb, who started as the youth team manager but found himself in charge of the first team after a succession of walk outs, has made way for his assistant, Omer Riza.

Since beating fellow relegation favourite Newport 4-0, the club have lost five successive games with just one goal scored and now face the prospect of relegation by Easter Monday.

Long Term Planning

AFC Telford United have abandoned their 20% ownership limit on private shareholders just weeks after surrendering 100% fan ownership.

Just 32% of the total available shares have been sold in the first round of sales, with the club noting that more than one potential investor had been put off by the 20% limit - a safeguard put in to stop the situation the old club found itself in with then owner Andy Shaw's business collapse causing catastrophe for the club.

The Bucks now expect the remaining shares to be back on sale by the end of March as they try to refinance a club that has had a poor couple of years on and off the pitch. They recently recorded their lowest ever attendance since reformation for a Saturday game at the New Bucks Head and have seen gates drop 25% over the past 2 years.

Elsewhere, Swindon's Supporters Trust is considering a bid to buy the club's County Ground home to protect it from potential redevelopment.

Following discussions with the local Council the ageing ground is available to buy for £1.1million. The site is said to be covenanted to solely be for recreational use, and the Council are now amenable to the sale which would allow the Trust to seek further investment into the ground on a community basis.

Meanwhile, over at Portsmouth, the Club and their Trust owners are now facing the prospect of a takeover approach. Billionaire former Disney chief Michael Eisner is rumoured to be a suitor for the club, with a club statement merely noting a 'robust process' in place to handle any such offers.

Final approval for any takeover would lay with their shareholders, with the Trust now the minority shareholder after being unable to keep up with the funding requirements of the veteran Fratton Park home the club retains.

The Trust's response to a potential approach from Eisner is to acknowledge they have to listen to what is on offer, and that a retention of some stake of ownership and a Director on any new Board would be their minimum requirements. The seriousness of the takeover approach has been downplayed in some quarters, but the Trust have gone as far as stopping new members from voting on any potential proposals until further notice.

Both the club's Board and the Trust seem to accept that the club is bigger than both of them, and that - in the world of billionaire investors holding the keys to most of the Premier League and Championship - the club may have a need to go down that route to return to former glories.