A SEAT in the stands at Fisher Athletic is £10 but a seat in the dugout is, it turns out, £500.

The Blue Square Conference South club has named Donna Powell as its manager for one night after she raised £500 for the struggling club.

A turnstile operator for the club as well as the manager of a boys’ football team, she has caused excitement in a sport where there is no higher status than being a "football man".

Curiously the her most vocal critic came from opponents, Eastleigh. Their director of football, David Malone, said: "Fisher have done it for financial reasons, and I can partly understand that, but I don't think being manager of a Blue Square South team is a saleable commodity."

Which will come as a shock to most people who watch or are involved in football and have seen just about everything be assigned a value.

And it does make commercial sense, especially at a level where the battle for financial survival is a permanent fixture for a lot of clubs.

Fisher are bottom and have lost their last 10 matches while their high-flying opponents are third in the league. But thanks to Donna the club has already won a small victory against its overdraft.

And while the likelihood of success on the pitch is pretty small based on current form, the change might just jolt the players into action.

After all, if the manager can be replaced by a turnstile operator, then perhaps the centre-forward could be dropped in favour of the raffle- ticket seller.

For the right price, obviously.