Another two weeks of virtual football suggest you don't absolutely need grass or muddy bits or even balls to follow the Albion.

While the Chesterfield cancellation made last weekend as meaningful as a Madonna concert without Madonna, and the feeling of having been mugged was made worse by the fact that the last three hours of action at Withdean had been quite beautiful, there were diversions.

Ten days ago we needed 18 points to be sure of promotion. And now, as we enter the killing fields of April, rapid and unexpected developments mean that, yes, we still need 18 points.

Hartlepool's continuing run, combined with the Withdean pitch, may yet delay promotion by a couple of weeks.

It was ten days ago that a rumour swept. .. well I don't know where it swept but it certainly washed over me ... that the League would decide Chesterfield's fate on Friday March 23.

They didn't and now they surely can't until the season has finished: any points deduction would radically change their players' approach to their remaining games and that would have to be unfair to someone.

The league could chuck Chesterfield out and disregard their results but that would seriously upset the exclusive bunch of clubs that had actually taken points off them.

Perhaps the answer is to let them go up but give them a 20-point handicap at the beginning of next season. Sounds daft, but everything else sounds dafter.

Our footie-free fortnight has been dominated by the things people with an Albion connection have said. Withdean FC's Des Ralfe for example, hoping to have his crew tramping on the Albion's fragile turf next season.

If he had simply said that his team have as much right to the ground as the Albion then fair enough but instead he chose to make the condescending, patronising remark that the Albion should find themselves another stadium.

I herewith undertake to turn up at all Mr Ralfe's matches next season and support whoever he's playing against.

The tweedy sorts from Falmer were then joined by some obscure left wing politician in the Argus letters column jumping on the anti-stadium bandwagon. It was a different sort of politician who said that if you can spot a bandwagon then it's too late, but our man in the red tie obviously feels there's vote or two to be had here.

He wanted, quel surprise, the council to take over the project and build and run the new stadium. Where, he didn't specify. Brighton station?

Just south of the marina? Next to the new library in North Laines? The point is that this council couldn't build a brewery.

The delays to the Albion's negotiations with the two universities proves again that bureaucrats are rarely capable of doing anything at planet-earth speed and appear to be alive only because they are nailed to their desks.

The council's men in suits are actually worse than the universities' because they profess to be backing the Albion while doing nothing very obvious to support the club at Withdean. Meanwhile, they are happy to subsidise the Brighton Bears' American-style antics at the Brighton Centre. We should stop feeling grateful to them.

Finally, of course, in this scurry round the outer rim of Albion life, we come to the remarks of England's most prominent Christian football manager. You know, the one who has just left the Saints. The man who once said he wasn't interested in joining Chelsea and that Owen wasn't a natural goalscorer. The man who was given a chance to resurrect his football career and repaid it by walking.

What's the Albion connection here? I rather hope there isn't one.