HARROGATE Railway's players and coaching staff walked out on the club after they were only offered £200 as a bonus for doing so well in this year's FA Cup.

They wanted £1,000 each and I think it is ridiculous.

I have been on cup runs as a manager and I would never give my players extra money.

How many of them give me their expenses and wages back when they have a bad performance?

Don't get me wrong, I look after my players. I took the Stanley first team to Spain for a few days last year as a reward for them winning three trophies.

But I would never give them a £1,000 bonus and I am disappointed with Harrogate, unless of course they were promised that money.

But it is not for the players, it is for the club.

I think they have made around £100,000 but that wouldn't even buy them a stand like the one we've just had built at Stanley.

To improve as a club and play at a higher level they need either a good friend or a few cup runs but it is no good if they then give the money away.

I said before Farnborough's game against Arsenal that the owner/manager Graham Westley would leave as soon as he got the cheque. I was wrong. He was gone before the cheque even arrived.

He says he put that much money into the club, so the money was owed to him.

There are people at all levels of the game who I wouldn't trust to run a toffee factory.

People don't know what they are getting into. They take over, the team's not winning and nobody is coming in through the gates and they're thinking 'How am I going to pay everybody?'.

It must be horrendous to be the chairman and the manager.

As a manager I used to get stressed on Friday when players would ring and say they were not available.

As chairman I am stressed on Saturday at 2.30pm wondering if enough people are going to come through the gates.

Some people combine running a club with playing but that is the lower reaches and I think that is the only level you could do it at.

Chairmen and managers have to be on good terms and we have had nine managers here since I took over.

You can get a reputation for being a hirer and firer but I don't care, it is on results.

If I ran a company and had shareholders to answer to and I wasn't delivering they'd want me fired too.

You can say a manager needs time but I think I can tell after six months whether it will work out.

But not all the managers have gone because of results. Wayne Harrison moved to America.

We've got the right person now anyway!

I told our manager John Coleman three years ago he should retire from football. I reckon if he can name himself as a sub he might as well put me on the bench too!

But he is still registered and he keeps saying he will play before the end of the season and that is making our administrator, Rob, very nervous.

Rob has bet John £100 that he won't score before the end of the season.

I also have a bet with both John and his assistant Jimmy Bell that they will be hauled in front of the FA at some point during the season.

Every year since they have been here they have been in bother but they have stayed out of trouble so far this season.

All proceeds from bets go to Accrington Stanley of course, so it will be the best £200 I ever spent!

Rossendale Valley's Jackie Barnes is a real character. He is a massive fan of East Lancashire non-League football.

He has no transport so can often be spotted thumbing a lift to games around the area. He is not everyone's cup of tea but he is a massive supporter of the game in this area.