The headline-grabbing figure of £60 million waiting for Stoke City as they are promoted to the financial nirvana of the Barclays Premier League must set their fans quivering with expectation. But that total includes two years of “parachute” payments to help Stoke to make a gentle landing if they drop straight back to the Coca-Cola Championship.

Too often, though, the parachute does not open. As Stoke fans roared with glee on Sunday at their promotion, Milan Mandaric, the Leicester City chairman, was already counting the cost of relegation. Leicester's draw away to Stoke was not enough to stop them slithering into League One - and neither were their generous parachute payments from the Premier League. Now the club could be falling into a financial black hole and facing a record deficit. Mandaric has already announced that the club were £5.43 million in the red for the year to April and losses threaten to mount.

Mandaric spent £11 million on players to get back into the big time, but expensive failure on the pitch coincided with the club's parachute payments - amounting to £11million over two years since their relegation from the top flight in 2004 - running out.

For every joyous Stoke or West Bromwich Albion, there is a Leicester - or a Luton Town, who are dropping down from League One after a season recovering from administration. Now every Luton player is up for sale as the club grapple with new financial realities, which mean sponsors will want to pay less, attendances are likely to drop and gate receipts fall. Traders in Mansfield, for example, have already calculated that they could lose £5 million next season after Mansfield Town dropped out of the Football League. At the top, life means dipping into football's richest honey pot; at the bottom, not only is there no honey, there is no pot.

Edelman loses his rights to box seat

Now you see him, now you don't. After eight years as managing director of Arsenal, Keith Edelman was soon off the premises at the Emirates Stadium after he was dumped by the board last week. Worse than that was to come: the silver plaque that marked his plush leather seat in the directors' box was taken away even before Arsenal's home game with Everton on Sunday.

£8 fine sealed with a kiss

May Madness: Brett Wilson was playing in goal for Harton and Westoe in the Wearside League against Hartlepool when the action stopped for an injured player. At that moment, Wilson's girlfriend arrived, so he ran across the touchline to greet her with a kiss. Romantic? Not in the eyes of the referee or the Durham Football Association: Wilson was fined £8 for leaving the pitch without permission.

Swapping gloves for clubs

The goalkeepers' union stages a charity golf event tomorrow in aid of the African Medical and Research Foundation. Robert Green, the West Ham United and England goalkeeper, is the host at the London Club in Kent, backed by Paul Robinson, of Tottenham Hotspur, Ben Foster (Manchester United), Scott Carson (Aston Villa) and Craig Gordon (Sunderland and Scotland). They are hoping to raise thousands to help prevent disease in Africa.