The Albion match programme, edited by Roy Chuter, is probably the best the club has ever produced.

It's informative, interesting and provides relevant reading matter long after the game.

In fact, anyone who has been to Chez Hart will testify to the back issues of Seagull and The Sports Argus stored in the toilet, the only room in the house where I can get some peace.

It was while thumbing through the Wimbledon edition I read something that wiped the smile off my face.

In his manager's notes, Steve Coppell, when referring to the Walsall game, said: "Last Saturday also signalled the halfway stage in my 34-game brief."

Now, does this mean what I fear it means?

Come the final whistle on Sunday, May 4, at Blundell Park, Grimsby, sorry Cleethorpes, will Coppell walk away, whatever Albion's final league position?

Is he here in a Red Adair capacity (there were some fires even he couldn't put out), with no plans to stay beyond the May Bank Holiday?

Albion have the ability to stay in Division One and I am sure the key to survival is confidence and belief.

Imagine the boost the players would get if Dick Knight manages to secure Coppell on a two-year contract within the next month or so.

This is every bit as important and significant as when Micky Adams came to the club in April, 1999. I only hope the Albion chairman thinks so as well.

The late Dr John O'Hara, former president of the Sussex FA, said he
wouldn't feel truly fulfilled, at least in a footballing sense, until a Sussex club won the FA Vase.

I really thought this was going to be the year the doctor's dream came true as Danny Bloor's Burgess Hill side seemed to have the ability to go all the way in the non-League national competition.

Sadly, Winchester City had other ideas and while I know Danny and everyone at Leylands Park will be bitterly disappointed, there is a bright future for the Hillians.

The club's proposed move from the Sussex County League to the Dr Martens will be a huge boost for Sussex non-League football.

Burgess Hill, like Eastbourne Borough, are classic examples of how to run a football club on and off the field.

A lot of clubs excel either commercially or on the playing side but Burgess Hill seem to have got the balance right.

The sad tale of St Leonards is a lesson to all clubs - ambition is great but you must have an infrastructure to back it up.

Leon Shepperdson and Mark Gardiner once claimed St Leonards Stamco, as they were then, could make it to the Football League. But there was always more chance that Leon's other ambition, having a record in the charts, would come true and I've heard him sing!

British tennis will be even bleaker when Tim Henman graduates to the commentary box and Greg Rusedski goes back to live in Canada.

With our top two players out injured, along with third choice Martin Lee, the Davis Cup team were predictably thumped by the Aussies.

It has come to something when breaks of service are celebrated as if Wimbledon had been won. When the doubles pair finally won a set, the LTA contemplated hiring an open top bus!