Football paying the price

Carlos Tevez' move to Manchester City for £25 million is the latest in a long line of big money moves in football.

Back in 1994 Chris Sutton's £5 million move from Norwich to Blackburn broke records, but fifteen years on and Christiano Ronaldo has been sold for £80 million.

Sir Bobby Charlton called this figure 'vulgar' and it seems crazy that such an enormous amount of money should be spent on a footballer; particularly in a time of global recession.

Setting a precedent

Transfers on this scale are not of course the norm, but the reason why they matter is because of the precedent they set. Premiership teams pay astronomical wages to their star players and this puts pressure on the teams below them.

There have been exceptions such as Stoke City who have managed to stay in the top league without breaking the bank, but their stay may yet prove to be short-lived.

One just has to glance at the teams that were relegated from the Championship last season to see how times have changed. Norwich, Southampton and Charlton are all Premiership teams from the last four years, but ones who overstretched themsleves financially and paid the price.

The problem is that the more the top teams pay, the more the teams below them have to pay in order to keep up. Leeds United is an obvious example, where they went from Champions League football to League One in six years.

Reliance on one owner

The question must be asked; just how long can all of this go on? There have already been rumours of Premiership clubs struggling with finances and it is not particularly healthy for a team to rely on one single owner, as many Premiership clubs now do.

Chelsea have been running at a loss for several seasons and if Roman Abramovich decided to withdraw his investment, their business model would look decidedly shaky.

Manchester City are now the richest club in the world thanks to their owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyans, but again they are totally reliant on his investment.

Fans important

The fans at Manchester City will be happy about their new signings but should football clubs really be allowed to turn into play-things for their wealthy owners? The owners should remember that a club is nothing without its fans and right now the Premiership is in danger of losing its soul.

Much like the banking crisis that no-one appeared to see coming, football may too have to face a financial crash. Anyone who loves football will not want to see this happen, but unless financial caps are put in place for transfers and wages, this is a very real possiblity.

The governing bodies need to be aware of this and act fast, otherwise the hearts of many communities who love football are in danger of being ripped out by greed.