9:29am Friday 16th January 2009
By Simon Fitzjohn
Football’s reputation as ‘The People’s Game’ took another nosedive this week with the news that Manchester City were circling AC Milan with a view to signing Brazilian superstar Kaka.
Now, I have no axe to grind when it comes to big-money transfers between major clubs, but the figures being banded about were quite frankly obscene.
£100 million transfer fee? £500,000 a week wages? No football fan (myself included) would ever come near that amount of cash in a lifetime, let alone a week.
So, I decided to dip into the books to check when our local clubs have splashed the cash, and raised an eyebrow when I realised that Brentford actually spent £750,000 on Hermann Hreidarsson back in 1998.
That piece of extravagance under Ron Noades remains, not surprisingly, Brentford’s record transfer fee.
But, before you spurt out your tea in disgust, a postscript is that the Bees offloaded Hreidarsson to Wimbledon for a cool £2.5 million merely a year later – nice business if you can get it.
Football seems to be drifting further and further away from its base – the fans – on a weekly basis, and something needs to be done.
For years I have backed players’ wages and transfer fees, with my argument being that if someone is willing to pay that amount, it is not my money, so just sit back and enjoy.
But when a club can literally start quoting ‘name your price’, then something has gone horribly wrong.
Where exactly this leaves the lower level clubs that we cover is anybody’s guess.
Whereas, in the past clubs like Brentford could dream of a rise through the divisions, most fans would now agree that that is little more than fantasy, unless some sugar daddy takes up residence at Griffin Park.
And our non-league clubs, like Hampton & Richmond for example, are seeing the League’s small-fry descend upon them, eager to find the next young hopeful that isn’t going to cost them an arm and a leg.
Everyone has suddenly become a feeder club for the moneybags owners at the top of the tree, and that is desperately sad.
Youngsters are being reared with tales of flash cars, expensive pads and ludicrous excesses.
The words loyalty and for the love of the game seem but a distant memory.
But for £500,000 a week, perhaps everybody’s loyalty can be bought.
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