Football fans united

With an obvious minor exception, the nations football fans were united today in delight at the prospect of Chelsea not being allowed to buy anymore players for 18 months! That's the FIFA penalty handed down for the tapping up of Lens youngster Gael Kakuta. It's all the more delicious when you know that Chelsea's spending power makes them believe, like most people with too much money, that the ordinary rules don't apply to them. You suspect FIFA have already built in the compromise climbdown so that they can reduce the penalty when the appeal from Chelsea is lodged.

Moments like this that unite fans across the land are rare, although Scunthorpe's divine victory over Leeds United in the League One play-off springs to mind as does Millwall's bully-boys getting a dose of their own medicine last week.

Phil Parkinson has told the Newsshopper that those cheeky Gills tried to get Chris Dickson on deadline day with the stunning ploy of offering £50,000 less than they offered several weeks previously. Paul Scally obviously thought that someone at Charlton might be as simple as he is. Chris Dickson will not be a happy bunny so expect him to be shipped down the A2 as soon as the loan window opens next week. I only hope we tell them the transfer fee in advance so they can save up for January.