It is with a little irony that as the UK is apparently just coming out of recession (even if it bloody doesn't feel like it), football appears to be heading that way. These are tough times for the game and its followers.
The January transfer window saw only a handful of clubs indulge and only £40M was spent, 12 months earlier it was more than 4 times that figure but closer to home, there are those clubs - including my beloved Cardiff City - facing a battle with the tax man. It comes to something when we can't enjoy a 6-0 win at Bristol City becuase of the antics of Peter Ridsdale next day with his monstrous attempt to bury bad news after good. How that has rebounded in him.
Hardest hit at present are Crystal Palace who entered adminsitration last week and lost 10 points moving overnight from play-off contenders to relegation battlers. This because they could not meet HMRC demands.
HMRC, the biggest petitioners for Winding ups in the courts due to unpaid tax bills have lost their respect and leniency towards football and its club, a legacy of years of problems dealing with them and cutting deals. The blind eye is being turned no more.
Four other clubs are known to be in trouble with them - the exact figure is likely to be many more - but followers of Notts County, Portsmouth and Accrington Stanley - are affected as much as Cardiff's.
The game has got itself in such a mess that West Ham confessed to over £100M of debt, Manchester United a crippling 7 times that amount.
However, fans notably are turning on their clubs and owners and bnot blaming the tax people at all. They know company directors have run the game of football in a reckless manner and without due care and responsibility. They have dug themselves into the hole, nobody else.
If the upshot of this carnage is that football matches what's going on is society and is run properly in future, then that may be something worth celebrating. It will ceratinly bring the game back to the people. Until then, expect a lot more pain .
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