SO, The conference clubs have finally done it.

In one fell swoop they have wiped out so much of the sympathy they had built up through the continued refusal of the football league to allow more than the measly one up, one down arrangement.

The clubs have now decided to take their bat and ball home and offer only one promotion place to the three feeder leagues below.

I'm not sure whether this is brinkmanship or just throwing the dummy out of the pram.

It certainly isn't going to get the football league clubs who, ultimately, must be convinced, to back the plan.

Would the conference be a better place now if the likes of Bangor City, Trowbridge Town and - for Christ's sake - Chorley were still in its lower reaches?

All of these clubs have had spells in the conference, and, no doubt, they made an impact in their day, but they have done sod all since, and new clubs have emerged to take their place.

Those clubs could now find themselves rotting in the lower leagues, waiting for an opportunity, which might come once every three or four years.

It makes the bottleneck at the top of the conference look like the Cheddar Gorge.

Let's not forget that what the conference clubs are fighting for.

Let me quote from a letter sent this week by a reader, Anthony Page: "The current system leads to the season being pretty much over by mid-January for the vast majority of conference clubs who are not either in the desperate scramble for that one promotion spot or battling against relegation.

"The present system leaves most clubs playing out one third of a season virtually as friendlies, with the resulting loss in crowds and revenues.

"The current system also weakens the third division in that deadwood is allowed to collect at the bottom.

"Clubs like Carlisle, Torquay and Exeter are perennial bottom four outfits while many forward-looking, ambitious conference outfits remain jammed in the bottleneck for one promotion spot.

Whatever happened to the concept of rewarding success?"

Surely, restricting teams from the lower divisions from getting promotion would make many of those problems even worse and blight the dozens of clubs for whom the conference is just an aspiration.

Two wrongs don't, after all, make a right.

YOU'VE no doubt heard the old joke.

The Sultan of Brunei asks his three kids what they want for their birthday.

'I want a car' says the oldest, so he buys him a Ferrari, 'I want a horse' says the second, so Desert Orchid arrives with a bow tied around him.

Finally, the youngest sits up and says ' daddy, I would like a mickey mouse outfit' so he buys him Everton.

It seems a real life version of this 'classic' joke is about to play itself out in the Italian city of Milan, where former club President, Silvio Berlusconi is reportedly poised to put his 15 year old son in charge of his club.

Berlusconi senior, who is also Italy's prime minister (this week) wants to anoint his successor so he can spend more time with his business and political interests.

It brings a whole new perspective to the concept of youth development.

I just wish more football clubs could look at original ways of involving the local youth, instead of filling their seats with those who see it as a pleasant alternative to a night at the opera - at a similar price?

SPEAKING of 'massive' clubs, more whingeing from Sir Alex Ferguson this week, with an outburst over the FA's academy status? It is, he says, a waste of time and money.

The reason? His youth team got a beating from Barnsley in the FA Youth Cup.

Same old United, always someone else's fault...