Today the F.A. announced that a greater percentage of Cup Final tickets will go on sale to genuine fans and that they are cutting the costs of Cup Final tickets.

And all of this presented as a package that gives football back to the fans and is seen as a move away from the corporate sterility that is killing today's game. But is it?

This package raises some questions in our minds that I heard on Radio 5 described as churlish. We didn't realise it was "churlish" to question the motives of an organisation that recommended that the biggest club in England shun the F.A. Cup last season. Many true fans said that Man United's non-involvement devalued the Cup last season.

Are they the same people who are staying away from this season's competition in their droves - less than 8,000 turned up to watch Bradford v Middlesborough in the 3rd round, and Man City's gate against Birmingham (often referred to as a sleeping giant, zzzzz) was some 10,000 down on their average gate. Maybe the public has lost interest in the Cup anyway. Especially when the final is not at Wembley, and is even being played outside the country. Quite a bizarre decision from a country that boasted it had some of the finest stadia in the world when presenting its World Cup bid.

And maybe the FA's decision to give less tickets to corporate interests has something to do with the fact that Cardiff does not have the same cosmopolitan reputation that London has, and maybe the corporate sponsors wouldn't have been all that bothered about going anyway.

Wouldn't the F.A. have shown more committment to the fans by deciding to build the new National stadium somewhere more central and accessible than London? And will we see an extension of the current committment to fans once the Cup Final moves from Cardiff back to London?

Whilst surfing the net this week we have come across several banal and trite postings, but we found one this morning on the Unibond message board that took the goat, got our gander up and was obviously posted by some chump (I don't think a chump is an animal - Ed).

There's nothing like a good wind up, and this was nothing like one. Banter is okay. Banter is good. Banter keeps the interest up, encourages fans to get involved and makes for a more interesting life, but this sad soul must lead a life that is as dull as ditchwater, - giving out phone numbers and pandering to the lowest common denominator, and trying to get others to commit a red card offence just isn't on. Okay, okay, so what are we on about? Well. here's the posting - with phone numbers removed of course......

"......for any Barrow fans wanting a bit of revenge for last weeks "incidents" the following cutting may be of use: RUNCORN LIST ACTON Runcorn have transfer listed their highly rated 'keeper Richard Acton. The 21 year old contract player has made around 75 appearances for the "Linnets" and all enquiries should be made through manager Liam Watson on ***** ******. That's it ***** ******....or SORRY Liam."

Whahey!!! That's stopped the rot. After five defeats on the bounce it was a welcome sight to see Barrow getting three points today. Whilst it might not have have been the most complete performance of the season, it was enough to see off Marine. And maybe that's a lesson that Barrow need to learn - it doesn't have to be a fluent, passing performance that is needed against well organised defences.

Housh's goal was typical Housh. Linking up from midfield through the middle and slotting home from a perfectly weighted Bulli pass. And for all those fans who were knocking Bish after recent performances, worra bout that last minute save. When Thompson got through, it looked odds on a goal, and when it hit the post and fell to Formby, you could see the headlines about former Bluebird comes back to haunt Barrow already, and then somehow Bish got across to keep it out.

One goal - and that's three quid towards our Give It A Lash for the Cash sponsorship scheme which now stands at the grand total of £22. And don't forget if you wanna join in then get in touch with us by clicking on the ball - above right. We're putting a pound in for each goal that Barrow knock past the hapless opposition keepers, but you can do whatever you want - goal difference, punches thrown in the centre circle, the number of times the woodwork saves us, the number of times Unibond Cup games are postponed, whatever.

Two Barrow fans and an Alty fan visited Australia during the Summer last year. They wanted to see the athletics finals at the olympics, but were disappointed to find out that it was a sell out and no tickets were on sale on the day. Unperturbed the first Barrow fan walked up to the turnstile with a frisbee clutched under his arm. The doorman asked him what he thought he was doing. The Barrow fan casually nodded at the half-hidden frisbee and said

"John Lord, discus."
And he was let in.
The second Barrow fan removed his Union Jack from its pole and put the pole under his arm and sidled up to the turnstile.
"Ian Glover, javelin."
And he was promptly let in.
The Alty fan knew when he was on to a good thing and went and bought a roll of barbed wire. When challenged he said:-
"(Insert your favourite Alty fan's name here)......fencing.

Well not us exactly, but Rushden and Yeovil are so that's good news. Isn't it?

According to this week's Non-League Paper, the non-league game represents 98.8% of all football in this country. Soooooo, the Conference must represent at the very most 1% - and that's being awfully generous - so why do they get 4 out of the 6 games covered on the new t.v. programme? Those figures don't add up to us.

Whilst we reckon it's great that the non-league game gets some coverage, we think that this programme will follow Sky's line in their League/Premiership coverage and widen the gulf between the haves and the have nots, thus making it that much harder for those clubs lower down the pyramid to move through it. Since Sky's involvement in the professional game, there has been an ever widening gulf between the top teams and those out of the spotlight, to the extent that it is a major shock when a mid-table club like West Ham dump Becks and Co out of the cup. Do we want the non-league game to go the same way? Isn't the beauty of the non-league game just exactly that it isn't this way? If this is just a way of cementing the Conference's position as a professional fourth(fifth) division then why not say so, why dress it up as the wonderful world of non-league football. It's bad enough getting patronised on MOTD every five years or so, without it happening on Sky on a weekly basis.

Surely a better approach would be for regionalised stations to cover the non-league game in their area, and then the money and coverage would be distributed much more evenly. Why not lobby your local station and get them to at least consider this option? And you won't have to buy a satellite dish, but can save your money to go and watch your team in the flesh - though you might wanna insist that Bish doesn't go that far.

Remember that it's far better to participate than to vegitate. If you've got any views on T.V. coverage then let us know by clicking

This week we're focussing on the promotion battle in Division One. Witton come from nowhere to stake their claim with a little gem found on the Unibond message board which proves that they have the credentials to whinge at the highest level. They may not have gained three points through their style of play, but a well earned win on the moaning side of things mean that they are now really in contention.

"Once again it is the same story at Witton Albion. The referee screws us out of another victory at home. Matlock Town were the benifactors this time.A goal which should have been disallowed, but the ref ignored his linesman. Dave Anane clear through and a late late late call for offside. Then after about 10 injuries for their side the ref played about 20 seconds injury time. I think that it is a disgrace and that it should be sorted out."

Obviously, Witton's failure to claim all three points had nothing to do with their team's inability to score more goals than the opposition. And as for a late call, wellll.....better late than never. Which bit were you watching, the player through, or the ball when it was played, both perhaps, or were you looking for an off-the-ball incident. Not easy is it? And maybe, just maybe, the officials got it right.

However, in the interests of healthy competition, and to make sure that the season isn't over by mid-February, can we ask all officials not to give any Witton players offside between now and the end of the season.

And Chorley keep up the heat with this one, appearing on the same thread. The Magpies needn't count themselves out of it as they pick up two for joy bonus points with this classic that explains away all of their team's frailities. And it gives us a chance to realise how the world and his wife conspire against them every Saturday afternoon; except when they win of course, and then that's nothing at all to do with dodgy officials, then it's just pure skill.

The clue here is in the word assistant. Because the referee did not see the incident, he spoke to his assistant. The assistant assisted him by telling him what had actually happened. Seems fair enough to us. England would never have won the World Cup otherwise.

Next time would the officials mind asking an unbiased Chorley fan on the terraces to adjudicate, rather than relying upon his appointed .....(wait for it) assistant.

And in the premier division at the weekend Hyde played Hucknall.

Hucknall lost and one of their fans comments were as follows:- ".....he refereed our game against Hyde yesterday and was f***ing shite."

And from the same game which if you're following closely, you'll remember Hyde won, a Hyde fan comments:- "I thought he was excellent"

So, Hucknall taking maximum points there, and the playing of their joker in this one maximised their potential for catching Alty at the top of the table.

So what d'you think. Too much whinging or do refs always get it wrong when they give a decision against your team. Surely, one or two non-Barrow fans have examples that might put us up there with the contenders. If you know of some fans who deserve three points in our Sore Losers' League, then get in touch by clicking

Darren Roberts has re-signed for Barrow, only this time it's on a permanent basis rather than on loan. Some fans were critical of Darren during his couple of months at Holker Street, with the basic criticism being that he just wasn't good enough, and that he wasn't any better than his replacement, Lee Ellison. In fairness whilst Darren didn't make the earth move for us, we did feel he was improving towards the end of his loan spell, and like the rest of the team, Darren put in a great performance against Orient.

In his time at Barrow, Darren made nine starts for Barrow and hit the back of the net on two occassions.

performance related pay scheme where he earns more money the more goals he scores. Not really too sure how that one will work out in a team game. What happens when Darren's got a tight angle and Pevs is unmarked in the box? Anyway, that's a different story, but this one is about a player who wants to play for Barrow and putting that committment in terms of pounds, shillings and pence which few people these days have the bottle to do. And let's hope it works out for Darren, Kenny, the team, and us the fans. Here's hoping that Darren earns more than a few quid between now and the end of the season, and I'm sure he has already heard about Give it a Lash for the Cash, so let's hope he's costing us a few quid as well.

of their financial clout and their stranglehold of control they have over the modern game that they've asked to be included in any future talks regarding changes to the current transfer system. So..........after months of telling us about how changes to the transfer system will really hit the smaller clubs, the self named G14 (the 14 richest clubs in Europe) now wish to be the ones who will influence a new deal. Do these seem like the people in the best position to negotiate on behalf of the 'smaller' clubs? If you think not, and that a much fairer system for redistributing the huge amount of wealth needs to be put in place then send us an e-mail with your alternative ideas by contacting us at

Not content with having their own media organ in the shape of the matchday programme, Leek Town are now seeking to extend their sphere of influence to include the Leek Post & Times, The Leek Post & Times is the local newspaper in this part of Staffordshire and as such is the public's main source of info about goings on at Leek Town.

Apparently, the club have banned former club official Mike Cope from writing Leek match reports for the paper, something he has done for several years. The rationale behind this decision appears to be that Mr. Cope's reports weren't positive enough for the club. This came to a head following Leek's 4-0 home drubbing at the hands of Blyth Spartans. It

If Mr. Cope has difficulty finding a forum for his match reports and wants to continue providing the fans and public in Leek with a service, then we will provide our technical know how (such as it is), and help him to get his reports out via the web. If Mr. Cope or any of the fans, or even anyone at the club wish to get in touch with us, then please e-mail us by pressing on the Welsh emblem to the right.

seems that Mr. Cope's match report did not enthuse enough about the glowing attributes of the Leek performance that day. Presumably, it is this rather than the fact that Leek are flirting with relegation, have had three managers this season and have recently released oodles of players that contributes to Leek's falling gates, and subsequent reduced revenue at the turnstiles which is causing the Leek board cause for concern.

Whilst we need not agree with what Mr. Cope has to say - and frequently we at The Street don't - we do respect his right to say it. This decision appears to be a curtailment of an individual's freedom of speech in favour of an organisation's wish to provide the public with their own slant on things. A few weeks ago we did talk about Leek's current financial plight and their lack of a sense of togetherness. This episode seems to reflect what we said then and it doesn't look like things are improving.

Isn't the match programme enough? Surely, the paper liases with the club over newsworthy stories and press releases as it stands now. Doesn't the club currently provide input into published stories about the football club? Why does the club feel that there is a need to further filter the information that gets to the Leek fans and public in general?

We feel that this decision reflects badly on Leek Town. It is hard enough for fans to disseminate information that eventually gets passed down via the local media, without clubs putting their own more positive slant on it.

As you have probably guessed, we feel quite strongly about this so although we don't usually do match reports, - comprehensive Barrow match reports and comment can be found at