The occasional sale of players like Matthew Holland – to Ipswich for pounds 800,000 during the co-op’s first year – is made palatable by thinking of what might have been. Today the directors still pay for their own season tickets, and the fans have a close involvement with day-to-day matters.The adventure has already borne fruit, as last year’s Wembley Auto Windscreens final appearance and this season’s play-off placing in the Second Division have shown. On Tuesday night, the local council voted to support the development of a community stadium at Dean Court.Malcolm Niekirk, the solicitor, who advised supporters on their buy-out, said : “It seemed like a Boy’s Own dream when supporters first told me about their plans but they are still there and I am still listening.”. Clubs which have lost League status since the war and not returned

NEW BRIGHTON
Voted out of the Third Division North in 1950 and played in the Lancashire Combination, then the Cheshire League. Relocated at Hoylake, but lost Cheshire League status and disbanded in 1981.ACCRINGTON STANLEYResigned, debt-ridden, in the 1961-62 season. A new club with the same name formed in 1968, and became, nine years later, founder members of Northern Premier (now UniBond League), where they still play.GATESHEADLike Accrington, Gateshead last played League football in the 60s, reformed as a new (and different) club, and now play in the UniBond League.BRADFORD PARK AVENUEA fourth successive bid for re-election to the League was rejected in 1970. They had finished bottom on each occasion A new club, with the same name, formed in 1988 and also now play in the UniBond League.BARROWThe Cumbrian club lost their League place to Hereford in 1972, and after seven unsuccessful years, secured a place in the Alliance Premier League, a forerunner of the Nationwide Conference.

The same club still play in the Conference.WORKINGTONFootball League status ended in 1977 when the club lost its place to Wimbledon. They now play in the North West Counties League.SOUTHPORTLost League status in 1978 and now play in the Nationwide Conference.ALDERSHOTBecame the first club since Accrington to fold in mid-season when they went into liquidation in March 1992. Supporters immediately reformed the club, which joined the bottom division of what is now the Ryman League and continued to play at the council-owned Recreation Ground. Regularly attract crowds of 2,000 and have climbed up to the Ryman Premier Division.MAIDSTONEThe Kent club won promotion to the League in 1989 but lasted only three years, the end coming when they were wound up within weeks of the start of the 1992-93 season with debts of nearly pounds 1m.HEREFORD UNITEDHaving won election to the League in 1972, when they replaced Barrow, Hereford suffered the reverse experience 25 years later when they were replaced by Macclesfield Town. They have survived the drop, however, and should be strong enough to challenge again in the near future.DONCASTER ROVERSRelegated last year and in dire financial straits, Doncaster have regrouped in the Conference this season and have attracted their best crowds for many years, despite failing to climb out of the bottom half of the table..

THOSE OF us who can remember a time before awards became a prominent feature of the sports agenda are intrigued by a knotty problem that recently arose for officers of the Football Writers’ Association. It was one of prestige springing from the discovery that the Professional Footballers’ Association had put back their annual dinner – and thus the announcement of peer recognition – until next Sunday.
The outcome, one some of you may possibly think to be descending into a twilight of reason, is that the FWA will not name their winner until 6 May. “Considering that our award goes back more than 50 years we didn’t want it to be overshadowed,” the FWA secretary, Ken Montgomery, said.This may bring up in the minds of many people the credibility of a football writers’ vote when set against that of a player who has the advantage in nomination of having played with or against the obvious candidates. Personally, I have often been at odds with the reasoning of colleagues, especially before the FWA’s original citation – “By precept and example,” was overwhelmed by a changes in attitude and disciplinary measures.Importantly, the writers’ preference is much more a reflection of what supporters probably think but history reveals that sentiment has sometimes figured too prominently in assessment.Denis Law was, by a distance, the outstanding candidate in 1963 but lost out to Stanley Matthews – the first and worthy winner in 1948 – who had helped win the Second Division championship for Stoke City in his 48th year.Nothing is held out here against Tony Book who shared the writers’ honour with Dave Mackay in 1969 – the only time it has been split – but such had been Mackay’s contribution to the game, both in his great years with Tottenham Hotspur and then with Derby County, that he should have been the outright winner. These days, I think, football writers generally pay a lot more attention to all-round technical influence when casting their votes but I still find myself at variance with some of their selections.Apparently there are a lot of votes this year for David Ginola who has contributed significantly and often with spectacular effect to the progress Tottenham Hotspur made under George Graham.The big question to be asked here is whether Ginola’s brilliant response to Graham’s searching demands is more important than the efforts put in this season by men from the Premiership’s three leading teams: Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.Even then there is plenty of room for doubt and deliberation. For example, last season the writers’s choice fell on Dennis Bergkamp. Doubtless this met with the approval of most Arsenal supporters.