IS THERE enough room for two clubs in Lancaster and Morecambe?

It's an old question that will not go away as long as we don't have a league club. If only we were to merger, thinks a (very) small minority of Lancaster City and Morecambe fans argue down the Shrimp or the Dolly Blue, we would be able to have a club big enough for the league.

Right or wrong let's ponder on what having a league club would do for our area. We would have a guaranteed mention in every national newspaper and television station every week. There would be a big increase in the number of people coming to the town - the vast majority of away fans being entirely law abiding and with a bit of spare cash to spend. It would increase our chances of having a serious cup run and pulling a big city club to our area - even if Manchester United consider themselves too big for the competition.

But, most of all, we want a league club because we are a football area and there's enough local fans here to warrant a league club.

So should they merge? Most fans, of both clubs, will shout an unequivocal NO WAY. There is a long and honourable tradition of antipathy between the two sets of fans which we, as the local newspaper, entirely approve. And, of course, Morecambe fans will no doubt say 'we're big enough as it is - our gates are ten times the size of City's.' Maybe the Shrimps are big enough, maybe they're not - our club at the red side of the area certainly can't afford to go full time as yet. And, those of us with a longer memory than the average fan who lives from week-to-week , will remember the gates Morecambe got when they were languishing in the Unibond.

So will a merger ever happen? Certainly not soon. But those who think it never will should remember this: it's a funny old game, football.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.