Bobby Z is beginning to like playing in Wales as much as at Withdean.

Another goal at Cardiff last week followed the two he scored at Wrexham - no wonder Corky put a bid in for him! Maybe we should ask for all our away fixtures to be played in Wales!

The events of the past week, including the 1-1 draw at Ninian Park, have highlighted the differences between the wealthy clubs and the paupers in the second division. Cardiff, with the backing of Sam Hamman, has spent £8million on new players - just a shade under £8million more than us! As our fans put it so aptly last week, "We're top and we've spent **** all."

Money doesn't guarantee to buy you success though. My experiences at Fulham taught me that.

When Kevin Keegan first started bringing in new players on huge wages it caused resentment amongst the lads already there.

He brought in so many players so quickly that they had to build a revolving door at the entrance to the dressing room. There were so many players in the squad that if you didn't arrive for training before 8am you couldn't get a peg and had to change in the corridor.

Keegan eventually solved the problem by splitting the lads into two different changing rooms. The new highly paid players moved into what was dubbed as the 'Gold Card Room', while the old boys stayed in the 'Leper Colony.'

Fortunately, characters such as Chris Coleman helped to improve morale but team spirit can suffer. The Cardiff players are obviously going through the same experiences now and it will be interesting to see how quickly they can start climbing the table. For Corky's sake I hope they sort it out soon.

Here at Brighton we have a different set of financial problems. We can't even afford a decent training ground at the moment. We were forced to train in Preston Park the other morning. The lads were a bit despondent and lost 3-1 to the dog faeces! Dodge suggested we make placards and walk round the city until someone finds us a place to train.

Despite this we have already racked up a healthy 22 points from only 11 games. Before people start getting carried away with that being promotion form, remember the sobering thought that we only have to maintain that form for another 35 games, or 70 points, or seven months!

The lads great form earned the gaffer another bottle of champagne as Manager of the Month (don't suppose we'll see any of this one either), but he still only merited odds of 28-1 for the Leicester job, just behind Frank Worthington, Keith Weller and that other great son of Leicester, Englebert Humperdinck!

With a free midweek to savour the lads enjoyed a bonding session on Monday. The squad went out for a relaxing meal, a few drinks and a bit of banter to puncture any over-inflated egos.

There were no Chelsea style high jinks - how could there be with the most sensible man in soccer, Headmaster Rogers, in charge! There was a rumour he once sniffed a bottle of Budweiser but I don't believe it.

We have such a well-behaved squad at the moment, typified by young Prince William, sorry, Adam Virgo. I think a few of the younger lads were wary of mixing with the old 'uns (Dodge and me) in case we cramped their style. They were relieved when we left them to it and headed home to a nice warm pair of slippers and a cup of hot chocolate.

Finally, we have reached a very interesting point of the season. We have done well so far but our results over the next few weeks will determine how successful we can be. It promises to be very exciting.