CATASTROPHE

But the chances of witnessing another such achievement, where 5,000-1 outsiders upset English football’s hierarchy, have now disappeared.

You see, there was one group unimpressed with Leicester grabbing the glory and the cash that went with winning the Premier League and an automatic pass into the Champions League.

You can almost hear them in selected boardrooms throughout the country.

“How were Leicester able to do that? That’s our money. They shouldn’t be anywhere near it..” Yes, take the applause John W Henry, Sheikh Mansour, Roman Abramovich and the rest who secured a landmark decision from the Premier League over overseas television rights – they are going to be scoffing an even greater share of the pie. For those who missed it, the clubs finishing in the top six will be paid more than the rest – it is akin to handing someone a ballot paper for six new board members with six names written upon it.

Outgoing chief executive Richard Scudamore – no doubt under huge pressure – came up with an equation that rewards the biggest. And sod the rest. The PROOF positive that the game is losing touch with all reality came with UEFA’S decision to fine Besiktas after a cat encroached on to their pitch during a Champions League tie.

The clash against Bayern Munich was stopped in the second half by English referee Michael Oliver. You will be pleased to learn the moggy, a ginger, made good its escape.

This grave error came under a list of misdemeanours tagged ‘insufficient organisation’ and the Istanbul club was clobbered to the tune of £30,000.

I honestly thought this was a joke. I half THE LAST WORD ... Not one that’s even more biased in favour of the elite. expected the next sentence to be that the Turks had been also been fined because the cat wasn’t sporting Besiktas club colours of black and white.

The serious point here is that racism – Russia’s fans abused French players during a friendly last month – only attracted a levy of £22,000 on the Russian Football Federation.

I ask you. Talk about getting your priorities wrong.

Mind you, at least supporters of the German club showed they had a sense of humour – the cat was made ‘player of the match’, winning 81 per cent of the vote...