Deep pockets
'Tis the season of goodwill, but Wrexham have reasonable grounds to feel aggrieved by the postponement of their New Year's Day Blue Square Premiership match against Barrow at the Racecourse.
Traditionally one of the season's bumper dates, the loss of the lucrative fixture is likely to cost the Dragons as much as £30,000 in lost revenue at a time when few if any clubs have money to burn.
Wrexham owner Geoff Moss was quite right to moan, especially as the likely take when the match is eventually played in midweek later in the season will almost certainly be substantially less.
The fault lies not with Barrow - who not surprisingly did not want to play 48 hours before their FA Cup third round match at Middlesbrough - but with the Conference administrators who lined up a full league programme for the holiday.
The result is that several other clubs apart from Wrexham have been inconvenienced and financially penalised, a situation that could easily have been avoided if the lead provided by the Football League, which decided against a New Year's Day programme, had been followed.
Unfortunately it's not the first example of muddled thinking from the Conference. There has been little or no logic in a pattern of fixtures that saw the Dragons play only one home league match in November.
And following Sunday's home match with Woking, those fans who enjoy their fix of weekend football at the Racecourse will have to wait until February 14 for their next Saturday home date.
For Wrexham, and many other clubs no doubt, it must be a nightmare to try and stick to bidgets when cashflow is so erratic. Add to that the cost of overnight trips with Wrexham visiting Ebbsfleet, Basingstoke and Torquay United in the space of 12 days next month and one wonders who is paying the bills.
With banks unwilling to entertain much in the way of overdraft capital the buck stops with people like Moss - a sobering thought for those who believe that football clubs should be owned by the fans.
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