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Northampton have confirmed that keeper Shane Higgs is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. He picked up the injury in the pre-match warm up before their match with Morecambe last month, leaving Aidy Boothroyd to decide whether to find another loan keeper or use one of rookies Freddy Hall or Neal Kitson. Ex-Bull Chris Weale's loan expires this week with his injury still to be assessed.
Grimsby chairman John Fenty has called for four promotion places for the Conference and greater parachute payments for those that fall into the fifth tier. Fenty says the string of club bankruptcies, including Rushden, Scarboro, Chester, and Halifax, is due to the relegated sides only receiving one year's payment of just £250,000 to cover their League contracts. Accrington chairman Ilyas Khan has said the club were set to name Leam Richardson as their permanent manager until late discussions with new boss Paul Cook.
Stockport manager Jim Gannon told fans at a forum last night that he would prefer the club to leave Edgeley Park if the opportunity arose. The Irishman told fans he had cut costs by over £100,000 since returning to the club, mostly on the wage bill, allowing the club to come close to being self-sufficient. Crawley keeper Scott Shearer is likely to miss two months after being told he needs surgery on a knee injury picked up last week.
Port Vale are being sued by shirt sponsors Harlequin Properties over the failure by the club to repay a £125,000 loan. The company were due to take a substantial stake in the club and provide further funding but talks broke down before former chairman Bill Bratt left the board. His departure is claimed to have triggered a repayment clause in the loan deal with the company saying they have rejected an offer to extend their sponsorship due to the dispute.
Darlington's players turned up for training today to be told they would not be paid their wages until the end of the season. They were told they would receive a 'match fee', believed to be around £250, to play each game but the remainder of their wages would not be covered until the Administrator's deadline of the end of April for fans to raise funds to buy the club. Kettering fans have raised £14,000 towards their £40,000 target to get the club to complete the season.
Crawley have signed Watford keeper Rene Gilmartin on loan for an initial month. The Irish keeper, who spent the first half of the season at Yeovil, can play in their FA Cup match with Stoke this weekend.
