Harty on... the Albion, Rebels and Ashley Cole

With the television coverage comes the most welcome extra income, but also the change in the kick-off time.

I’m fully aware that, in any sphere of life, you cannot stand still and you must go forward. So, TV and the extensive coverage has transformed our national game, but part of me still has that traditionalist streak, that enjoys my team kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday.

If, as all Albion supporters hope, the club achieve Premier League status, the time-honoured Saturday kick-off time will be further eroded.

Not just with live TV coverage, but with a number of sides playing in the Thursday night Europa League, Sunday games become part of the fixture list.

But, then again, having watched the Albion play “home games” at Gillingham in the lowest level of domestic football, if someone had said to me within 15 years the Albion would have one of the best stadiums outside the Premier League with nearly 25,000 season ticket holders, the prospect of not playing every week at 3pm wouldn’t have really bothered me.

And, frankly, if playing in the Premier League means a few Sunday games, as much as I like my Saturday routine, if the giants of domestic football are coming to Sussex, all supporters will have to embrace change.

My only real concern would be with the increased TV coverage in local pubs and clubs, via various satellite dishes, the Albion would have to get the level of pricing right.

Once the honeymoon period is over, how many fans will play £30 upwards at the Amex when they can watch the same game live in any number of local pubs and clubs?

Worthing FC under-18s moved into the last four of the County Cup for the first time in nearly a decade with a cracking 5-2 win against Crowborough at Woodside Road on Sunday.

It was a great advert for youth football in the county and, on Monday, I found myself having to get the report changed on the normally excellent Worthing FC website, as the headline read “Worthing thrash Crowborough”.

While we scored five, we certainly didn’t thrash our opponents. It was certainly “game on” at both 1-1 and 3-2, so I personally felt that the headline was, to a degree, disrespectful to both the management and players of Crowborough Football Club,

I was at Wembley last night to witness Ashley Cole joining the exclusive 100-cap club for England.

Like a number of today’s footballers, Cole is a Marmite man. There is no grey area, he’s either loved or hated.

But, in the build-up to reaching his century of international appearances, certain facts have come out that has even a cynic like myself having a re-think.

It has been revealed that, in his time at Arsenal, no other player at the club attended more charity functions. It has also come out that, when changing one top-of-the-range Bentley for another, the money he received for selling his previous vehicle was donated in full to the Antony Nolan trust.

Clearly, he’s not all bad. But, then on the flipside, the delightful Cheryl wasn’t enough for him, and he once shot a work experience youngster with an airgun at the Chelsea training ground.

I think my Granny once summed it up, “it takes all sorts”.