League Two
| Chesterfield 2 |
|
|---|---|
| Blackpool 1 |
|
Rarely can a pre-match tune have been more appropriate. Judging by the catalogue of financial irregularities levelled at Chesterfield by the FA last week, including non-contract payments to players and falsified gate receipts, this really could be a case worthy of Mulder and Scully. People in this corner of Derbyshire are, in the words of the Catatonia song, starting to worry.
This season had been shaping up to become one to remember for the Spirerites. Over recent weeks the gap between themselves and stuttering Brighton had grown to embarrassing proportions. Now 2000-01 may be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The spectre of Swindon, relegated for similar offences 11 years ago, hangs over them.
The Chesterfield chairman Darren Brown has spent his time vigorously denying the charges and claiming that they face fewer than half the number of charges reported - 33 compared to 70.
"I think the most serious are the two charges of payments to players and the Luke Beckett contract," he said yesterday. "We have consistently denied these allegations."
Beckett was bought from Chester, with his £150,000 fee set by a tribunal. But the salary he was to have been paid and his signing-on fee have come under scrutiny, with Brown claiming the player signed a new contract in November.
From Swansea to Southport, clubs are preparing cases for and against promotion and relegation. "Going down," chanted Blackpool's supporters as the home players left the pitch at the end of a slightly fortuitous win. Only a post and a dodgy refereeing decision, Steve Blatherwick punching a Richard Wellens cross inside the box, denied Blackpool a point.
"It has begun to affect me personally," said the Chesterfield manager Nicky Law. "This is my first job and I've found it very difficult."