DUBLIN soccer club Shelbourne may be in line for a €1 million windfall after its success in the Champions League qualifier this week, but figures released yesterday show it has a long way to go before matching the other clubs in the shake-up for Europe’s top prize.

Football League clubs in England have been challenged to win a £1m (€1.5m) jackpot by scoring a record number of goals between them this season.

The Professional Footballers’ Association are confident clubs have learned the lessons from the game’s financially-troubled past.

Shares in ITV plc made their debut on the stock market today, following the merger of Granada and Carlton to create Britain’s largest commercial broadcaster.

Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson has given his support to calls for a winter break.

CARLTON Communications chairman Michael Green is set to receive a £1.4 million pay-off when the group merges with Granada despite not having a formal contract.

Carlton Communications chairman Michael Green is set to receive a £1.4m (€2m) pay-off when the group merges with Granada, despite not having a formal contract, it emerged today.

Carlton boss Michael Green’s hopes of surviving a shareholder coup over who runs an enlarged ITV company were dealt a potentially fatal blow today.

ITV group Carlton could face the prospect of a shareholder vote to oust chairman Michael Green if he does not agree to go, it emerged today.

Millwall have announced a loss of £4.7m (€6.7m) for the last financial year.

CHAIRMAN Bob Murray last night insisted Sunderland are not on the brink of financial collapse.

UK investors should get useful mid-year reports from a clutch of blue-chip companies this week as activity in the London markets rises again after a quiet month.

Premiership clubs will bide their time before plunging into the transfer market this summer as the money men keep a tight grip on the purse strings.

WOLVES manager Dave Jones leads his side into the Division One play-off final against Sheffield United today unburdened by the weight of history at Molineux.

INVESTORS in BSkyB have had a rollercoaster ride in recent years. Caught up in dotcom mania, the share price increased from £6.00 in November 1999 to a high of £21.58 on March 6th 2000, an increase of 360% over four months.

MANCHESTER UNITED chief executive Peter Kenyon has claimed only half the professional clubs in England can survive the current financial state of football.

Scrapping professional football in the lower divisions is not the way to safeguard the future of the game, according to former Football League chairman Keith Harris.

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB today said it remained on course to reach its target of seven million subscribers in Britain and Ireland by the end of next year.

Sheffield United have announced a loss of almost £2m (€2.8m) for the last financial year.

Leicester today revealed they are “at an advanced stage” in negotiations with creditors and the Professional Footballers’ Association as the club‘s plc board look to avoid being placed into administration.

The Professional Footballers’ Association are urging football clubs not to break players’ contracts by trying to enforce pay cuts on them.

ITV broadcasters Carlton and Granada today announced they are in advanced talks to merge in a move which would pave the way for a single ITV company.

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan expects seven or eight First Division clubs to be in administration by the end of the season.

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor wants the Football League to sell one of their promotion places to the Premiership for £100m (€159m).

The Professional Footballers’ Association will continue to monitor the financial situation at cash-strapped Derby even though their players have now been paid.

Granada boss Steve Morrison is to quit next month as the broadcaster looks to draw a line under the collapse of ITV Digital, it emerged today.

PREMIERSHIP clubs beware.

The BBC and BSkyB successor to the defunct ITV Digital will be called Freeview, it was announced today.

Burnley have banned ITV cameras from Turf Moor on match days after losing out financially from the collapse of ITV Digital.

One of the leading figures behind the plans to expel Celtic and Rangers from the Scottish Premier League has rejected Gordon Taylor’s plans to merge with England’s Nationwide League.

The Football League were today starting to search for a new chairman and chief executive to fill a power vacuum left by the resignations of Keith Harris and David Burns.

David Burns today paid the price for his part in the ITV Digital fiasco when he resigned as Football League chief executive.

CLUBS must emerge from an 'Alice in Wonderland' dreamland of counting on TV incomes rising each year after the loss of the Football League's compensation claim against Carlton and Granada.

DOZENS of English clubs are facing the threat of oblivion after the Football League lost their claim for £131.9million against Carlton and Granada, parent companies of the now defunct ITV Digital.

The Football League is considering whether to appeal the British High Court's decision that they should not recoup the £178.5m (€282.5m) they say they were owed from the collapse of ITV Digital.

The Football League's hopes of recovering £178.5m (€282m) from Carlton and Granada following the collapse of their joint venture ITV Digital were dashed today when a High Court judge ruled that the media giants were not liable for the company's debts.

Bradford this morning staved off the threat of liquidation when creditors voted to accept a rescue package to save the Yorkshire club.

The UK's High Court today reserved judgment on a claim by Carlton and Granada that they gave no guarantee to cover the debts of their now-defunct joint venture ITV Digital.

SKY SPORTS are to make Ireland's Euro 2004 home qualifier with Switzerland more accessible to Irish fans by broadcasting the October 16 game live on Sky One.

Leicester City today admitted they have ‘‘short and medium term cashflow problems’’ which will force them to sell players and cut wages in a bid to keep the club afloat.

Arsene Wenger today claimed European football had hit a financial brick wall.

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has dismissed claims Crystal Palace are a selling club and insists Clinton Morrison is going nowhere.

IF the example of Cork City new boy John O'Flynn is anything to go by, then the collapse of the ITV Digital deal with the Nationwide League is definitely going to benefit their Irish counterparts.

Sky has bought the rights to screen Football League matches for the next four years in a £95 million deal, it was announced today.