Outside the Box: Online club Ebbsfleet face drop as 23,000 members log off

The man who was behind the innovative experiment last year in which 32,000 online members of
MyFC.com all over the world paid £35 each to become the owners of the Conference club Ebbsfleet United for a season is refusing to accept defeat despite a fall in numbers to 9,000. That led to budget cuts, with the club in serious danger of relegation after all but five members of the squad managed by Liam Daish left last summer. MyFC's Will Brooks told OTB: "I'm very proud that we've managed to clear around £600,000 of club debt, but very disappointed that 20,000-plus members vanished. However, we are working on a new model where fewer members pay more. For example, 3,000 members paying £10 a month could sustain the club." A club with players called Sherlock and Holmes can surely solve the problem.

Whetter behind the ears

Still on the ever-entertaining non-League beat, and a moment that would have pricked the interest of Eric Cantona at a venue that makes even Selhurst Park's draughty old main stand look glamorous. Passions run high down in Cornwall's Carlsberg South-West Peninsula League Division One West, especially when local rivals such as Newquay (aka The Peppermints) and St Austell (The Lillywhites) get together. Lee Whetter, a St Austell defender, has been charged by the Football Association, suspended by his club and told he'll never play for them again after striding into the stand to attack an opposing fan who was abusing him for receiving a red card. Comically, the fan, Bob "the Judge" Charles, managed to keep a cigarette in his mouth throughout, even when held in a headlock by the furious Whetter. On the Cornish Soccer Forum website, where Charles is well known for his acerbic posts, there is a call for him to be prosecuted for breaching anti-smoking laws. Another contributor is far less concerned with the assault than the disgrace of an English flag, rather than a Cornish one, being draped at the back of the stand.

Fifa's bone of contention

Fifa have turned to MRI bone scans to reveal players' real ages for the purpose of under-age tournaments. World football's governing body are using the hi-tech scheme in the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria, after tests showed one in three players at the 2003, 2005 and 2007 tournaments should have been banned. The host country, where the registry of births can be a little haphazard, have been forced to drop 15 players for the current tournament as they were all over-age. Fifa's Professor Jiri Dvorak, who claims MRI scans are 99 per cent accurate, said: "Wrist scans are a non-invasive method of age determination. Over-age players have previously benefited from unfair advantage due to their greater physical maturity."

Stewards in hot water over food fight

A post-script – or should that be pre-script? – to the theft of money and food from catering kiosks by Manchester United fans during the Carling Cup tie at Barnsley on Tuesday. Eye- and ear-witnesses to the official briefing of stewards before the game heard the head honcho instructing his yellow-jacketed men and women: "Enjoy yourselves, talk to them. Treat them like human beings. To begin with..."

s.tongue@independent.co.uk