On my mind

I KNEW from an early age that earning a living from performing step-overs and nutmegs was not an option. On the pitch I was like a jigsaw puzzle – I fell to pieces when put in the box. Clearly I was not going to perform on the pitch.

Providentially I was never going to kick a ball in the obscene theatre of greed which is British football.

Now that the season is over and the Abu Dhabi Group has once again financed the winner, I am reminded that the ‘‘beautiful game’ has scored numerous own goals that threaten to taint all of us who love football.

While the two Welsh teams fight for scraps off the table, as a result of the relentless avarice of the Premier League big boys, it is no surprise that, according to a recent Deloitte report, the top six teams in the UK are those with the fattest shin pads.

Since Roman Abramovich, Russian-Israel billionaire business man, spent over £1.1 billion pounds on Chelsea and Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi ruling family spent more than £1.3 billion on Manchester City, the ‘loadsamoney’ and celebrity cultures continue to spawn rotten values, extravagance and greed.

There is now a yawning chasm between the Premier and the lower leagues (not to mention the state of the grassroots game) which is not only threatening their existence but also the quality of the chewing gum used by each of the managers.

There is no truth in the rumour that a pound coin thrown on to the pitch of a recent Cardiff City game was a takeover bid.

Let’s hope the money runs out and players can be developed and not bought and the beautiful game can return to its roots.

Until then we are all complicit.

Follow Graham on Twitter@GeeTDee