The ongoing Falmer saga appears to have taken yet another twist after last Saturday's Argus exclusive about the funding of the planning application.

For most of last season, Dick Knight and Martin Perry told their Falmer stadium critics that Albion would not be spending vast sums on the planning application if they were not confident of success.

It now transpires that the club have found a third party to stump up the cash for the planning application.

According to the club's annual accounts, Sussex based construction company Adenstar Developments, whose managing director Derek Chapman is also an Albion director, coughed up the money and are also poised to build the stadium at Falmer.

This revelation brings into question the relationship between the Albion and MacAlpine. When Dick Knight took over in 1997, current Albion chief executive, Martin Perry was then a MacAlpine employee and part of the deal was that they held one per cent of the Albion shares with a view to developing the stadium when and wherever it was finally built. Does Adenstar's £500,000 and Derek Chapman's previous investment of a similar figure mean that MacAlpine have withdrawn from the Albion picture? Martin Perry now has a 0.60 per cent share, but is it his or MacAlphine's?

The accounts also revealed the extent of investment in the Albion by various directors. I say investment but the term actually used was 'Directors' Loans'.

Should loan read gift? Almost all of the money put into the Albion by Messrs Knight, Pinnock, Bloom, Chapman and Griffiths has been spent. The only way I can see any of them getting it back is if they sold out en masse and that's something Dick Knight has vowed never to do.

The only Albion shares everyone would want to be see sold are Bill Archer's 33 per cent and it's rumoured that the 'Butcher of Blackburn' wants a cool £1.25m for them, not bad for 56 quid!

Over the years there have been football transfers that have shocked the soccer world.

Eric Cantona from Leeds to Man Utd, Andy Cole from Newcastle to Man Utd and Mark Farrington from Feyenoord to Brighton.

Now Sol Campbell has joined the ranks to rock soccer. The massed ranks of the Tottenham support have gone into apoplexy at his decision to join North London rivals Arsenal.

But for all their whinging and whining can the Spurs support really blame Campbell? Frankly, he hasn't done a lot wrong. He has given Spurs 10 years loyal service, how many top players these days do that? But he is ambitious and wants to win trophies.

In English football today there are only five, possibly six clubs that have the ability to compete for honours consistently.

Arsenal are one of those clubs, Spurs aren't. Their rivalry with the Gunners is now just geographic and along with the likes of Everton and Man City, they will have to face the fact that they will be forever in the shadows of their big city rivals.

Football is changing, it will never go back to the good old days. But perhaps the likes of Spurs, Everton, Middlesbrough and West Ham should have thought about that when they and the rest of the elite jumped into bed with Sky.

Beware of false economies. Perhaps if the All-England club or the LTA had spent a small fraction of the huge profits Wimbledon has generated over the years on a retractable roof for the Centre Court, this nation could have celebrated a men's singles finalist for the first time in over 60 years.

There was only one winner before the rain on Friday night, but only one result when the match entered its third day.

Sadly it was that predictable, dare I say a classic episode of British sport where defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory.