FOOTBALL League chief Sir Brian Mawhinney has hailed the courage shown by Town and their fellow clubs in agreeing to reforms which have changed the way the game is run outside the Premiership.

A salary cap, the registration of agents' fees and implementation of sanctions for clubs entering administration have all been approved over the last 12 months.

League chairman Mawhinney said: "The clubs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of all these measures. The change which is taking place in the Football League is fundamental.

"It's not just seven or eight of us sat around a table and saying you will do this or you will do that.

"Instead we've taken an argument out to the 72 clubs and persuaded them that it's to their advantage to sign up to the measures.

"We now have a relationship with the clubs whereby they are willing to listen to the board and set aside the folklore of football to help them meet the new challenges.

"I pay unreserved tribute to them. They have been courageous in making decisions which 12 months ago many people would not have thought possible."

It is now compulsory for all clubs to register with the Football League any payments made to agents during the course of a transfer.

Details of these payments for the six months between January and June have recently been published and Mawhinney hopes that in future there will be even greater transparency on the amounts taken out of the game by agents.

"The first stage is to concentrate the current process because the regulations we have brought in about registering agents' fees are ground-breaking," he said.

"Our figures don't begin to compare with the amount allegedly - and I have to say allegedly because the official figures aren't published - paid by the Premier League clubs to agents.

"My personal view - we haven't discussed this matter as a board - is that we need to get the current system well established so that everyone is confident in it. Once that is achieved we may go further."

There are to be no alterations to the current play off-system, although Mawhinney admitted the League were open to new ideas.

"It's a matter of record that at a club meeting last year there was a proposal to increase the number of player-off teams from four to six," he said.

"The board was neutral on the idea - we could see arguments for and against - but most clubs did not buy into the proposal that a side finishing eighth in the division could be promoted.

"My guess is that we will not change anything until Wembley is completed, which if everything goes according to plan will be in 2006. But I never say never.

"If someone comes up with an interesting idea then we will look at it but the board are not planning to look at the matter again."

FORMER Town midfielder Craig Armstrong, one of the unlucky 13 shown the door by Sheffield Wednesday at the end of last season, is being tracked by League II duo Bristol Rovers and Wycombe, bossed by Tony Adams.