in fact, the efl charged the club with misconduct after senior players refused to play against kingstonian. and at the root of all of this is the clubs financial difficulties, which have been well documented. eight times now the club representatives have been at the high court facing winding up orders because of the tax owed to hmrc and to employees. as of tonight, the players and the non—playing staff still haven't been paid and — these aren't premier league footballers on thousand and thousands of pounds a week — these are league two footballers with mortgages, bills to pay and christmas is coming up. i spoke to the chairman of the club's supporters trust who gave me some examples of the predicaments players and non—playing staff are finding themselves in. we had a situation where the groundsman couldn't come into work basically because he didn't have enough petrol to be able to get him to work from where he lived, about eight miles from the ground. we've had situations where a player has had situations where a player has had a difficult situation in home and has had to sleep in his car

barry's vance criticised the efl for not intervening before the crisis escalated.ief executive admitted the rules may need to change. the question we have to ask ourselves is are those rules and regulations robust enough, or should there be a situation where, potentially, the efl may step in earlier? the efl are conducting a review of those rules, but it may come too late to fort macclesfield, as there is talk of a takeover. with ominous signs of repeating history, now all around moss rose, the macclesfield fans say they are worried that after 145 years of history, the club may be entering its final weeks. patrick geary, bbc news. now, we have already mentioned one derby of the programme this evening, and there's another one this weekend with a trophy at stake as well, an old firm cup final no less with rangers wanting to hand manager steven gerrard of first trophy, and celtic, the holders of the league cup, desperate to keep their stranglehold on scotland's‘s domestic competitions. here's jane lewis. a hand in head to head on different sides, but eyeing the same p

macclesfield town have been deducted 6 points after pleading guilty to numerous efl charges.—payment of salaries and the non—fulfilment of a league two match. a further 4 point sanction has been suspended. the punishment means macclesfield drop from 15th to 22nd in league two. and bury fans have met this evening to discuss the club's future. they've been listening to a bid from local businessman robert benwell who wants to buy gigg lane. bury were expelled from the english football league in august. the club has reformed and called itself bury afc, and they hope they can start again in non—league football. now to rugby union and scotland captain, greig laidlaw, has announced his retirement from the international game after nine years and 76 caps. he led the national team 39 times, more than anyone else. the 34—year—old scrum—half made his last appearance for scotland in the rugby world cup defeat to japan in october. he ends his international career, second only to chris patterson on the all time points list for scotland, with 714. it was an exceptional lead up and that works

in fact, the efl charged the club with misconduct after senior players refused to play against kingstonianll documented. eight times now the club representatives have been at the high court facing winding up orders because of the tax owed to hmrc and to employees. as of tonight, the players and the non—playing staff still haven't been paid and — these aren't premier league footballers on thousand and thousands of pounds a week — these are league two footballers with mortgages, bills to pay and christmas is coming up. i spoke to the chairman of the club's supporters trust who gave me some examples of the predicaments players and non—playing staff are finding themselves in. we had a situation where the groundsman couldn't come into work basically because he didn't have enough petrol to be able to get him to work from where he lived, about eight miles from the

during england's win over pakistan it's been almost four months now since he was expelled from the efl. tonight, they are coming together to call —— discuss their future. they've reformed to call themselves bury afc and have a bid from businessman robert benwell to buy gigg lane. bury were expelled from the english football league in august. the group are hoping to start again at the bottom of the footbal lin the nwcfl, which runs divisions at the ninth and tenth tier of english football, and has submitted a proposal under the name bury afc. earlier i spoke to him from very afc and asked what they hoped would come out of this meeting. we wouldn't start off in the football league, or reinstating the football league, or reinstating the football league, or reinstating the football league, basically, what it would be is, it is a phoenix club but either way, if it was to be liquidated, whether it was his version of it or whether it was the one that we've been working on. we would have to start in a league pyramid system, really. and just go again, and try to get back up there as possible ba

during england's win over pakistan it's been almost four months now since he was expelled from the efl, and the fans have been in disarray since. tonight, they are coming together to call —— discuss their future. they've reformed to call themselves bury afc and have a bid from businessman robert benwell to buy gigg lane. bury were expelled from the english football league in august. the group are hoping to start again at the bottom of the footbal [in the nwcfl, which runs divisions at the ninth and tenth tier of english football, and has submitted a proposal under the name bury afc. earlier i spoke to him from very afc and asked what they hoped would come out of this meeting. we wouldn't start off in the football league, or reinstating the football league, or reinstating the football league, or reinstating the football league, basically, what it would be is, it is a phoenix club but either way, if it was to be liquidated, whether it was his version of it or whether it was the one that we've been working on. we would have to start in a league pyramid system, really. and just go again, a

what have the efl said? the efl say they have the efl said?y have rules in place through financial fair play system which they uphold, they have already find one club, birmingham city, and they are looking at sheffield wednesday at the moment, but sheffield wednesday say they haven't done anything wrong. the efl say they have these rules and they uphold them and they vigorously implement them. that is their stance. it was yet another strange evening in the life of ronnie o'sullivan. here he is refusing to shake the hand of his opponent and the referee at the scottish open, choosing to fist pump instaead. he said it's because he's "a bit ocd with germs". he did shake james cahill‘s hand at the end of the match, but the ref still got a fist pump. he also says he can't open door handles without tissues. plenty more on the bbc sport website and app. including a century for england's natalie sciver in their win over pakistan in the second one dayer in kuala lumpur. but, for now, that's all of the sport. we'll have more for you in the next hour. wit

macclesfield town have been deducted six points after pleading guilty to numerous efl charges.e alexandra on december seventh. a further four—point sanction has been suspended. the punishment means macclesfield drop from 15th to 22nd in league two. now, to rugby union. scotland captain greig laidlaw has announced his retirement from the international game after nine years and 76 caps. he led the national team 39 times — more than anyone else. the 34—year—old scrum—half made his last appearance for scotland in the rugby world cup defeat to japan in october. he ends his international career, second only to chris patterson on the all—time points list for scotland with 714. he was an exceptional leader, he led in an old—fashioned way, you might say. but it works for everyone and the environment he was in. i wouldn't say that he was deficient in any area, something he focused a lot on, leadership, was what set him apart. he was one of the first names his decision—making was impeccable, his decision—making was impeccable, his application was excellent. his leadership will probably be

an analysis by the bbc has shown players‘ wages in football‘s efl championship are outstripping theirare posting record pre—tax losses, as they vie to reach the premier league. one former chairman has said the amount of spending in the league is a bubble waiting to burst. andy swiss reports. it‘s football‘s richest competition, but is the battle simply to reach the premier league coming at a hefty cost? when wolves celebrated promotion last year they did so having spent far more than they‘d earned, and they weren‘t alone. figures analysed by the bbc showed championship sides racked up a record £307 million in pre—tax losses. only five of the 2a teams in the division made a profit, while spending on wages exceeded revenues by 11%. one former championship chairman believes some owners are gambling with their clubs‘ futures. it is a billionaire gamblers‘ paradise. my worry is the one who may be putting in money, in four, five or six years‘ time, when they get bored and leave a club in such debt with such high wage bills, who is going to be there to pick up what they‘ve left? it‘s a bubbl

in the last hour, the efl have said macclesfield's boxing day fixture with grimsby town will go ahead to their stadium were resolved. the league two side have been struggling their match last week against plymouth argyle was called off last week, they were deducted six points and had a further four point punishment suspended after they pleaded guilty to charges over non payment of wages and failing to play a fixture against crewe earlier this month. their match last week last week, macclesfield had six points deducted and a further four point punishment suspended after they pleaded guilty to charges over non payment of wages and failing to play their league two game against crewe earlier in december. macclesfield town's fixture with grimsby town will go ahead as planned on boxing day, kick off 3pm. on thursday last week, the club was served a zero capacity notice by the local safety advisory group and as a result of this, its fixture against plymouth argyle did not take place on saturday 21 december. the england cricket captainjoe root says he doesn't know if ben stokes will be availa

not long ago it would have been unthinkable for a club like bury to be expelled from the efl, and nowwn are suffering similar problems; as are bolton wanderers, who were only in the premier league as recently as 2012. now they're bottom of league one with major money worries. but a bbc investigation has found that these stories will only increase with clubs in the championship posting record losses in a gamble to reach the premier league. some say it's a bubble waiting to burst. it is special‘s bridges competition, but is the battle simply to reach the battle league coming at a hefty cost? when wilson celebrated promotion last year, dated so having spent far more than they had earned. they were not alone. —— wolves. championship sides racked up a record £307 million and pre—tax losses. only five of the 2a teams in the division made a profit, while spending on wages exceeded revenues by 11%. spending on wages exceeded revenues by ii%. one former championship chairman believes some owners are gambling with their clubs features. it isa gambling with their clubs features. it is a billiona

giuliani that efls involved in the campaign, with all the publication information we have, she was one of the leading anti-corruption ambassadors we have on earth. they sabotage her, they undercut her, they led her to an appeally. sdpzs. she got rid of it because she was getting in the way of wfrl who investigations they wanted. so that's pretty dleer. it had nothing to do with corruption. morphover, moreover, if you go to the telephone call, mr. trump didn't raise corruption once, three times. that was the favor that wemp looking for, right? epd the president of ukraine to come over and say he was investigating the bid enz. that's undis. not to mention let's not play mablg. leet not dlam that he was sflovld some kind of anti h. this president cut anti-corruption funding by 54%. he was on for millions of dollars. president zelensky, who was getting shaken down, was the informer. he was the president of the resolution of dignity in 2014 which tried to bring some democracy and tried to bring some fairness and anti-corruption efforts to ukraine. giuliani and his gang that can't shoot stra

i've been an efl teacher since 1992 at city college. from the article in yesterday's chronicle, i saw the links that our chancellor had written you a letter and said the situation is not an emergency and he and husband trustees will handle this difficult situation directly at the college. unfortunately many of us have lost confidence in this chancellor and in our board of trustees, and we are grateful to you for overseeing what's going on with these cuts. he said in the letter that the cuts were part of a long planned restructuring of the academic program but all the cuts came as a surprise. and he also said that the cuts were made to prioritize the high-demand students who need to graduate. but one of the classes being cut, which i found out from a colleague at john adams, is the healthcare information technology class 74, which is necessary for students to graduate and is only offered in the spring semester. that class has been cut, which means that students will not be able to graduate in spring 2020. another class that's being cut i

macclesfield town have been deducted six points after pleading guilty to numerous efl charges.of a league two match against crewe alexandra on december 7th. a further four—point sanction has been suspended. the punishment means macclesfield drop from 15th to 22nd in league two. now to rugby union... and scotland captain, greig laidlaw, has announced his retirement from the international game after nine years and 76 caps. he led the national team 39 times, more than anyone else. the 34—year—old scrum—half made his last appearance for scotland in the rugby world cup defeat to japan in october. he ends his international career second only to chris patterson on the all time points list for scotland, with 714. was for scotland, with 714. an exceptional leader. he ls an was an exceptional leader. he let in an old—fashioned way, you won't mind me saying that, but that works for scotla nd me saying that, but that works for scotland and the environment he was m, scotland and the environment he was in, buti scotland and the environment he was in, but i wouldn't say that he was deficient

. >> because he buys in such volume are the efls making it in some branding and putting the brandon.these questions. >> if you watch "elf." it is pretty clear >> not herme the elf where he wanted to be the dentist >> no. the classic "elf." we want to know how does he get in our chimney window >> he's magic. he twinkles his nose >> shout out, a lot of viewers tweeting about that klaus movie. the origin story of santa. it is a secular version. it is fabulous >> wasn't he like -- all german fairy tales end with somebody being eaten. >> no, no. >> i want to make sure i don't tell me kids you know what i mean >> this is not a german fairy tale this is a cartoon fabulous film. >> klaus not clause it is so good. >> nike unveiling a new colin kaepernick shoe. good idea? a look at yesterday's s&p 500 winners and losers ♪ flur ♪ through the at&t network, edge-to-edge intelligence gives you the power to see every corner of your growing business. from finding out what's selling best... to managing your fleet... to collaborating remotely with your teams. giving you a nice big edge over your compe

critchley says they're notjust throwing a team together to play aston villa in the quarter—finals of the eflorld cup in qatar tomorrow. the group of players that will take the pictures is one that we that co nsta ntly. the pictures is one that we that constantly. it not like we're throwing a team together. we will be well prepared, we've got enough time, we will know how we are going to approach the game and it's important we play like a liverpool team. former wales backs coach rob howley has been banned from rugby for 18 months, with nine suspended, for betting on matches, including wales games. the suspension is backdated to his withdrawal from wales' world cup campaign in september. the panel whojudged howley found that from november 2015 to september this year he put 363 bets on rugby union matches. and finally, we like to bring you people who are sucessful at more than one sport. world chess champion magnus carlsen is top of the premier league's fantasy football rankings. here's the norwegian grand master in the dayjob. while his chess game is more deliberate, he says his fantasy footba

the news broke that they were not allowing the spectators to go and watch the game today is so the efl to believe the game will not be played, the statement went out at nine pm saying the game will be played because macclesfield town has not requested that the game be called off and it is chaos, i feel for the plymouth fans were arranging to come up plymouth fans were arranging to come up to macclesfield and many of them will have driven up yesterday, for a weekend christmas, and the game gets called off at eight or nine o'clock at night. where is this going and how do you see it ending? not well to be honest. ifeel we are in a situation where no money is coming in this month and we have the crew, local game for us, a big away following, plymouth will bring eight to 900 spectators to the game today, again, bringing large amounts of money for us to help pay for the wages at the end of this month and the players have said for the last two months that they are not going to play games if they have not been paid, the 31st of december we find ourselves in a situation where the players should