kevin.bailey@nottingham.ac.uk writes
>No, of course he isn't. And neither is any other footballer for that
>matter. Something will have to be done about spiralling wage demands or the
>game in this country will financially implode or become tacked on to some
>Euro league.


The whole thing is very, very scary. We used to have a reasonably
sensible system where seemingly stupid sums of money circulated between
clubs. Now we have palpably insane amounts of cash flowing into the top
flight of the game via TV (and Digital TV will multiply this amount for
the very top clubs). The money flows out of the game and into the
accounts of a select few players, instead of lower division clubs. The
result is that the game is being controlled by a few talented,
individuals (Carbone, DiCanio, Keane, McManaman et al). All this is
thanks to one unremarkable player- Jean Luc Bosman who may have secured
his own financial future, but has possibly destroyed the game which gave
him the opportunity to become rich.

In the next few years, I believe that we will see many premiership clubs
reach crisis point. Sheffield Wednesday are in serious trouble and a
merger with Sheff Utd is being positively considered. Middlesborough,
Leicester, West Ham, Everton, Spurs, Coventry and a host of other clubs
may yet follow if they choose to compete with Manure, Arsenal and
possibly Leeds. 

Chelsea, despite their huge income may yet join the financial strugglers
if they don't begin to win meaningful trophies. The question is not
whether big clubs will go to the wall, but how many?
-- 
Andy Johnson