MORECAMBE could find themselves embroiled in one of the most bizarre TV experiments in footballing history if a much-touted link up between Channel 4 and Stevenage Borough goes ahead.

Apparently, the Shrimps' Conference rivals have agreed to take part in a TV programme dubbed 'Big Brother meets Dream Team.'

The Stevenage boss, Paul Fairclough, will be asked to select three players from his squad to 'compete' for a place in the first team via a public telephone poll with poor performers from the previous weekend' s matches.

The Stevenage directors believe that, among other benefits (including, no doubt, a fat cheque and a boost to sponsorship income) the series will 'raise the profile of the Conference'.

Up to a point.

The same couch potatoes who made Big Brother's Helen a cultural icon may grudgingly admit that there is competitive football played in the real world as well as on 'The Premiership,' but in the eyes of serious football fans - not to mention sponsors, potential signings etc, the Conference will be devalued as a competition.

And how do the players react? Maybe their chances of getting a table at the Ivy increase slightly, but will they appreciate having their professional performance judged by people who thought Craig and Brian were charming and witty?

Will 'phwoar he's got nice legs' be a bigger factor than 'that was a fine hat trick in the reserves by the Ian Dowie lookalike?' Has anyone even bothered to ask the gaffer what he thinks or are they too scared to explore what he thinks about putting out a team picked by a bunch of pimply types who only put down their Big Mac and fries to pick up the phone and vote in some kind of interactive attempt at entertainment? (Notwithstanding the possibility that they might do a better job than Alan Ball).

The other problem is, it's not 'only a game show'.

Picture the scene.

It's May 2003 and Morecambe lie second in the Conference, one point behind leaders Southport.

While the Shrimps face a tough trip to Yeovil on the last day of the season, the Sandgrounders have a home tie with mid-table mini-celebrities Stevenage.

The night before the game, the Channel 4 television phone lines are jammed with scousers trying to vote Stevenage's leading scorer off the team and force their manager to play a 1-3-6 formation for the following day's clash at Haigh Avenue.

So, when Saturday comes and Stevenage take a shock 5-0 half time lead, the mobile phones come out of 3,000 pockets and the lines are blocked as the Port fans try to vote the Borough keeper into being substituted.

Nasty Nick comes off the bench and the rest, as they say, is history.

When I read about the idea for the first time I honestly thought it was a wind up, and a pretty far-fetched one at that.

In fact, I'm still not entirely sure that this isn't the out of control result of some Jeremy Beadle style prank.

If not, I suppose we have to accept this as the inevitable, unstoppable progress of the 'Championship Manager' style computer games, combined with the insatiable appetite for interaction and football on TV.

After the fans as commentators and the fans as producers on Sky Sports, was this the only road we could follow?

After all, if it were that good a commercial idea, Manchester United would have been doing it for years.