With Newcastle seemingly ready to pay Peterborough up to £4 million for 16-year-old left winger Paul Etherington, Kinnear's continuing sanity in the midst of the current financial madness was clear to see.

Wimbledon are nicknamed The Crazy Gang but hold on. There are many who would prefer to remain in the land of the sane along with Arsenal's Monsieur Venger and Joe, believing that money is not the be all and end all of the game.

Talking of financial madness, Dons' fans might be grateful to learn that, despite the mysterious investment of Norwegian capital in the club last season, there is something to be said for avoiding a Stock Exchange flotation.

Forget about poor old Millwall - quoted at 1p on the market despite having one of the more attractive stadiums in the capital. Look at the plight of Aston Villa with their excellent playing record last season. Profits are up 83 per cent to £9.82m and turnover rose 44 per cent to £31.77m. Yet the share price has slumped.

Why? I suspect that the City slickers do not see the club's multi-million mid-summer signings as a cast iron investment for the future. A lot of supporters, if not investors, down Wimbledon way would once again see the development of home talent as much sounder business.

Yet another spin-off from the painfully prissy refereeing of the World Cup could destroy an old and very honourable part of the game - the art of the goalkeeper. The pernicious process started some years ago when the man between the posts was banned from handling a pass back. Then keepers were told they could only hold the ball for five seconds.

"I'm just waiting for them to tell us we can't use our hands any more," says the Dons' Scottish keeper Neil Sullivan.

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