The 'not' so beautiful game

Darlington look set to the the latest football sob story

In a day where, Inter Milan offer a sum of 21 million pounds for Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez, and later on in the day, the sad news that Darlington FC edge closer to the end, you couldn't ask for things to be put into perspective more. All of Darlingtons first team players and manager had their contracts terminated today by the administrators of the club. Whilst the top clubs in europe hurl chunks of eye watering money about which only sides in the lower leagues can dream of. Something a little wrong there?... I think so.

Darlington are another casulaty of the football world as they follow the likes of Chester, Kings Lynn and so forth into a 're-birth'. Hundreds of years of history wiped off, in a single pen stroke of the tax man. You could say, these clubs should not spend beyond their means, which some would say is a fair argument. But when other clubs are spending money around you, which they, themselves do not have. You need to spend to keep up with them, otherwise you will be left behind and effectivley bullied by other sides in the same league.

Drawing an example up with Sheffield Wednesday, when they were the cash strapped club they were, I feel we was bullied in the league because of our lack of funds, as in we couldn't buy the best players, or we got out bid by other teams for players who offered them higher salaries. So in actual fact when rivals start spending money, you are forced into the same posistion.

'The Darlington Arena' One of many factors that got
Darlington into financial bother

But the sickening truth is, the huge gap in the football ocean is huge, the FA should be doing more to combat this and ensure responsible spending, football clubs will continue to fall under the current status quo. When you read stories of players earning 250k a week, and getting 60 million pound transfers, and you have a club who cannot rub two pennies together, really does say everything that is wrong in football. The commercialisation of the game has not helped either, by encouraging clubs to spend big to showcase the biggest league in the world.

Money has taken the heart and soul out of football, the inch perfect bowl stadiums which have no feel of home are constantly being constructed. Whilst these are nice to the eye, the millions spent on these massive stadiums can endager the clubs stability, just one of the factors Darlington have suffered financially.

Going to the match to stand in a rain swept terrace and to look at the odd dodgey stand which was smaller than all the others, gave a British football ground the feeling of 'home'. Singing your heart out for 90 minutes whilst getting piss wet through gave that sense of togetherness, you only see in the lower leagues now. I would rather go to an original old ground, than a 'dome' any day. As they all look the same. Pride Park and The Riverside look exactly alike. Wheres the feeling of home there?. A football stadium is supposed to be unique a marker, that this is our home, and nothing can take that away.

The million dollor question really is, how do we stop teams from going under again?, there are a few ways of doing this, you cannot 100% stop a team from meltdown, but there are ways to prevent the problem as much as possible...

Wage Caps and Transfer Caps
This would be the easiest to implent, and something which everyone would agree is a fair yard stick, is to set league, wage and transfer caps against clubs, so they are suitable for the said divison they are in, but keeps them safe from over spending. This brings a nice balence to the divisons. Sides which are relegated whom may have higher wage bills in a lower league, won't be able to sign new players until they re-structure the wage bill, this would be a way to ensure an advantage is short-lived.

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The FA has made a big noise about this issue, they have tried to implent this, but so far it seems to be failing, a bigger in depth look into prospective buyers history and actual wealth would help a lot. This will stop businessmen taking on something they can not financially sustain.

'Football Insurance' 
Now, this is an idea I have thought about, basically, every football club from, the Premier Divison to League Two, would pay a certain amount of money in every season, contributions are subject to the clubs wealth and league, so a Premier Divison club would pay a higher amount than a League Two club. Basically acting as a safety net for ALL clubs who get into financial problems. You could say its an IMF of football. This money is paid out to clubs who are struggling to help them pay off debts, or some of the debt. But then the club has to pay that 'loan' back, over an agreed amount of time when they manage to get back on their feet. This alone would save many clubs, think how much a season you could collect, 2-3 million perhaps? if all clubs agreed to pay a contribution?. Its a bizzare idea. But clubs would argue why should they pay for other clubs financial problems...

No matter what you suggest, something needs to be done to stop clubs falling into administration, fans are following their team up and down the country every Saturday, following the team they love, to wake up one morning and find out they have been sat on a huge amount of debt, and are about to be liquidated in a court room.

Money is killing the beautiful game.