SNOPPER`S FOOTY NOTES...
(An occasional dip into a different world)

......and there`s quite a lot to feel gloomy about, even though there may be one or two brighter spots on the horizon.   For instance, Mr. Slightly`s rampaging Gills are now an unlikely five points clear at the top of League Two, so there`s much dancing in the Gillingham streets right now.

Further west, the ongoing trauma that is Truro City continues.   A last minute reprieve to carry on playing was granted by the Conference after two local businessmen stumped up a £50,000 bond to cover the very considerable travelling expenses of teams visiting Treyew Road in the event of Truro failing to fulfill their fixtures and their results being `expunged.`   Discussions about buying the club, paying off debts and paying the players and staff the money they have been owed for months continue;  support for the club seems to be growing as their last home attendance topped 600.   All very encouraging especially as City are rooted at the foot of Conference South thanks to the 10 point deduction for going into administration.   Hope still springing eternal as the romance lives on.

The learning curve for my beloved Saints continues to be steep, having gathered four points from a possible 27 with seven defeats in nine games.   Inevitably there have been mutterings about manager Nigel Adkins` position but you only have to look at examples such as Everton and even the accursed ManUre to realise that stability might just bring its own reward.   Now for some Saints fans, the current position would appear bleak;  for me though, and for others who have ridden on the roller coaster for over half a century, there might, just might, be comfort in recognising that to be in the relegation zone of the `best league in the world (tm)` is to reside in Saints` spiritual home.   Straws being clutched?  

An interesting development has seen our street`s hard working pacy flanker Scott ("Buzzin` six-pack") Wagstaff go on a month`s loan to Leyton Orient, which has given him the chance to play regularly - something denied him under the increasingly eccentric regime of Charlton manager Chrissy ("The Legend") Powell.  So, for the next few weeks, we`re now O`s fans, which doesn`t seem to be doing them much good.

So it all might sound a bit gloomy but at least my concerns are as nothing to those involved with the higher echelons of the Premier League.   It`s bizarre universe has today given us yet another rich irony with Chelsea of all people making a formal complaint about the allegation that referee Mark Clattenburg yesterday used "inappropriate language" to a couple of Chelsea players.   This is Chelsea, remember?   In truth, you couldn`t make it up......but it is a different world after all.