THE discovery of a black hole some zillions of light years away in outer space may have got scientific minds dancing in their laboratories but for the rest of us there are much the same things back here on planet Earth.

We don’t need to board Starship Enterprise to come across the sort of black holes that devour the cash needed to keep even some of the most famous names in football from going out of existence.

They are in places like Bolton and Nottingham – and in even one posh corner of West London.

It is hardly likely that Roman Abramovich, who has spent goodness knows how much on Chelsea is feeling the pinch so he has been able to turn down a £2billion takeover offer from Britain’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe, the boss of petrochemical giants Ienos – the new label for Team Sky cycling – and a Stamford Bridge season ticket holder.

Despite his visa problems, Russian Roman appears to be more than happy to hurl his spare roubles at his hobby – even though he can’t use any of it to buy players because of a transfer ban.

Notts County, the oldest Football League club, are in danger of going out of existence, unless somebody steps in to buy them from the current owner.

County, beaten 3-0 by Crewe at the weekend, are rock bottom of the Football League with precious little hope of escaping the drop, so we aren’t talking much more than Roman’s pocket money to keep them afloat.

But for how long before that particular black hole sucks the life out of the next owner and the 157-year-old club is looking for another buyer?

And what of Bolton Wanderers, the club of Nat Lofthouse fame? A mere 145 years old, they were beaten 4-0 at Derby and are heading for relegation. There have been countless tales of staff not being paid on time, recent threats of ground closure and unrest among the supporters.

Coventry City may be booted out of the League if they don’t find a home ground for next season and Blackpool’s long-suffering supporters only recently got rid of unloved and unwanted owners, saving themselves from falling into their own black hole.

It is a mystery why anybody would want to be a football club owner.

* IT was a triumph nobody predicted, but when Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green at Augusta there was unanimous agreement.

This was the greatest comeback ever.

The record books will show that it was his 15th Major title coming 3,954 days after his 14th, his fifth Masters at the age of 43 and only the second player after Jack Nicklaus to win it in three decades.

What they will not show is that this was a triumph for a Tiger of a different stripe. Gone was the surly, self-obsessed Woods of old who strode the fairways with a scowl, who had – at least from a distance – the reputation of a loner who snubbed fellow players and shunned any hint of camaraderie.

This was somebody who was just happy to be out there. He played with a smile on his face, as though he was actually enjoying himself. The spectators loved him (though that isn’t new) and even when he bogeyed the last hole to win by just a single stroke his own reaction confirmed that back problems and personal traumas were behind him.

Whether he overhauls Nicklaus’ 18 Majors is up for debate, but if he does you can bet the first to congratulate him will by the Golden Bear.

However, we had our own queen of the comebacks.

World number 479 tennis player 26-year-old Tara Moore was trailing 0-6, 0-5 and 30-40 to No 3 seed Jessica Ponchet in at international tournament in Sunderland.

Match point down, the Hong Kong-born Tara somehow managed to come back from that to win 9-7 in a tie-break and 6-3 in the third set.

The Twitter verdict from Doncaster-based Tara: “Never in doubt.”

* THE ball hits a player in the face and bounces down on to his hand. No penalty! Another ball hits a player on the leg and then up on to his arm. Penalty!

If you watched Sky’s weekend coverage from Burnley and Wigan, you would have seen both and wondered what was the difference?

At Turn Moor, referee Mike Reid initially awarded Cardiff a penalty but then, on the advice of an assistant, changed his mind.

Across at Wigan, the referee did not hesitate and pointed straight to the spot. There was nobody around to change his mind.

There would have been many other incidents of dodgy decisions over the weekend but fear not. VAR is on its way (not to Wigan, though).

But those expecting the latest gimmick to cut out any doubt are kidding themselves.

Everybody saw both and it is still down to interpretation. Unless VAR can interpret then we are back where we started – relying on the human eye.