AlbionRoad.com - A fan's guide to football clubs

It's time once again for our monthly look at the State of the States. What stories are making the headlines this month, and what should we look out for in the coming month? This time around, we see many of the same themes from last month carrying forward, frustratingly unresolved. Beginning with...

Wait For It... Wait For It

The Collective Bargaining agreement between MLS players and the owners keeps getting pushed back. In last month's column, I noted that we were supposedly only a few days away from resolution. This month? Days? Weeks? Months? Your guess is as good as mine. There was an initial delay when things seemed hopeful, then the bottom seemed to fall out of the negotiations completely, and now both sides have returned to the table with a federal mediator. What's a fan to think?

The Russian football season kicks off in earnest this coming weekend and to commemorate it Bill Turianksi brings us a map of the Russian Premier League. Some of the big questions of the new season:

• Can Rubin Kazan claim a 3rd straight title which would be the first three-peat since Spartak Moscow's run of six titles ended in 2001
• Or might it be time for the Red and White of Spartak, Russia's most popular club to regain the title after nine long years? 
• How will the four clubs from the south fare (some of whom might not be there for entirely sporting reasons)?

Our team of previewers look at the Premier League's latest offerings - as four top flight fixtures take place between Monday and Wednesday.

Monday night sees the division's two Spaniards face off, each desperate for points in their respective battles - Roberto Martinez has been thrown in at the deep end this year, and his Wigan side are just a point above the relegation zone. Their pretty football hasn't proved effective yet and the visit of Liverpool, a point off fourth, will be another tough test.

Relegation contenders Pompey, Bolton and Sunderland are all in action on Tuesday, before second-bottom Burnley host Stoke on Wednesday. Read our previews here...

Our team of previewers look forward to this weekend's action and make their predictions on 'likely' results - though just how likely it is to predict results at the minute, after the topsy turvy campaign that has been, remains to be seen.

There are only five ties this weekend, including Wigan's journey to Anfield on Monday night, but it is still an intriguing collection of ties. West Ham vs Bolton is the latest in a seemingly never-ending sequence of relegation six-pointers, while Burnley travel to the Emirates and Wolves host League Cup winning Manchester United. Sunday's only fixture sees a badly out of form Hull travel to Everton; check out all the previews here...

Portsmouth’s entry into administration had been signalled well in advance and closed an unhappy chapter for the south coast club.  If the club had not gone into administration, it would certainly have been wound up and might have disappeared altogether.   It will suffer a nine point deduction which seals its relegation from the Premier League, but its chances of survival were not all that good anyway.   The administrator has said that he will apply to the Premier League to make early sales of one or two players to provide working capital and reduce the wage bill.   With the club available at a realistic price, hopefully it will be possible to find a buyer.    Providing everything can be settled by the start of next season, there will be no further points deduction and the club should be competitive in the Championship.

That does not mean that there are no losers.   The tax authorities, and therefore the taxpayer, will only receive a small proportion of their outstanding claim.   The biggest losers in such situations are usually small businesses such as builders who can ill afford to lose what are to them relatively large sums of money.  The whole episode, with the succession of owners at Portsmouth, once again casts doubt on the adequacy of the Premier League’s fit and proper person which covers probity but not whether a purchaser has the assets, or even more important, the liquidity that they say they do.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, pitched in with a series of comments about the need for better football governance.   Perhaps he has forgotten that when Labour came into office they set up a Football Task Force under David Mellor.   This raised the possibility of an independent regulator of football, but the plan encountered resistance from the football authorities and the Premier League in particular.   This is probably not the time to revive such a plan, nor is it necessarily the best solution.   But the game does need to show a new determination to put its own house in order.   The events at Portsmouth have hardly enhanced the reputation of the Premier League brand.