16th August 2000   

91% of Latics turnover goes on wages !!!

ATHLETIC forgotten man Paul Beavers returned to the North East today, joining Darlington on trial with a view to signing on loan. The former Sunderland striker has had a miserable 12 months at Boundary Park and still can't force his way into Andy Ritchie's plans. The Athletic boss decided Beavers (21) needed to advance his career at league level, as well as find the sharpness he has clearly lacked. Beavers is set to play two reserve games for Darlington, who will then take him for a month as long as he proves his fitness. It is the second time the six-footer, who was transfer listed in March, has been allowed to make a temporary move from Athletic. He joined Hartlepool at the end of last season and was part of the squad which was beaten — by Darlington — in the third division play-off semi-finals. Beavers had Achilles and groin injuries last term, managing only three senior starts and a further two games as substitute. He didn't feature in any first-team friendlies this year and has even been tried at centre-back in a bid to restore confidence and form. 

Manager Ritchie has plenty of options up front, with Carlo Corazzin being added to Mark Allott, Matthew Tipton, Craig Dudley, Steve Whitehall and Ryan Sugden. Darlington are the basement division's biggest spenders, but they missed out on promotion and have since sold leading scorer Marco Gabbiadini. Corazzin won his 48th cap for Canada yesterday, playing a lone striking role in a World Cup qualifier in Mexico City. Mexico are unbeaten at the Aztec Stadium since 1986 and their 2-0 victory means Canada will almost certainly miss the finals in Japan and South Korea. Corazzin is due back in England tomorrow, giving him time to recover from his journey before Athletic's match at Walsall. The Saddlers will be without banned defender Tony Barrass, while midfielder Chris Marsh has an Achilles problem. 

Andy Ritchie has revealed he left Craig Dudley of the team for the game against Port Vale because he doesn't feel he's fit enough. Many Latics fans were surprised when the 20-year-old striker was left out of the opening game of the season against Port Vale last Saturday. But Ritchie explained: "He needs to work on his stamina." And the boss hopes that after being axed from the squad it will hurt enough to make the player more determined than ever to pull on a first team shirt. Ritchie said: "I don't think he is fit enough and that is the reason he wasn't considered for the Port Vale game." The Latics boss added: "He looked tired quite early on in games last season and he didn't have any injury problems. "He has to start working on his stamina and we will be getting him to improve on it with some work in the gym."

The Latics reserves suffered a 4-2 reverse against Wolves in their first game of the new season. It could have been a different scoreline if the second string had taken all their chances. They went down 2-0 but battled back to level the scores. Craig Dudley pulled a goal back with a header before Welsh under-21 international Matthew Tipton fired home an absolute beauty from 30 yards. But as more chances went begging for the Latics second string the visitors showed a more clinical touch by bagging another brace. Overall it was a good and entertaining game with both sides knocking the ball about well. 

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR 50% OR LESS OF TURNOVER

Manchester United 33%

Sunderland 42%

Aston Villa 48%

Leeds 50%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR BETWEEN 51% and 65.9% OF TURNOVER

Charlton 51%

Tottenham 51%

Chelsea 51%

Walsall 53%

Arsenal 54%

Manchester City 54%

Newcastle 55%

Preston 56%

Gillingham 57%

Derby 65%

Wycombe 65%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR BETWEEN 66% and 99.9% OF TURNOVER

Huddersfield 66%

West Ham 67%

Leicester 67%

Plymouth 67%

West Brom 68%

Nottingham Forest 69%

Middlesbrough 69%

Bristol Rovers 69%

Leyton Orient 69%

Coventry 70%

Wolves 70%

Sheff Wed 71%

Cambridge 73%

Birmingham 74%

Bristol City 75%

Ipswich 75%

Torquay 75%

Oxford 76%

Burnley 76%

Scunthorpe 76%

Wimbledon 78%

Chesterfield 78%

Wrexham 79%

Carlisle 79%

Everton 80%

Liverpool 80%

Crewe 80%

Bolton 80%

Stoke 81%

Cardiff 81%

Watford 83%

Colchester 83%

Southampton 84%

Blackpool 86%

Lincoln 86%

Exeter 86%

Swansea 86%

Stockport 90%

Bury 91%

Oldham 91%

Norwich 92%

Barnsley 93%

Grimsby 93%

York 95%

Rochdale 97%

Notts County 98%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES COST 100% OF TURNOVER OR MORE

Millwall 100%

Shrewsbury 100%

Rotherham 104%

Tranmere 105%

Blackburn 106%

Reading 106%

Sheffield Utd 118%

Peterborough 118%

Port Vale 123%

Southend 123%

Fulham 128%

QPR 141% - An estimate has been used to exclude Wasps RU from the joint accounts submitted

Brentford 161%

Darlington 181%