Football Sugar Daddies - Helping or Killing By Steve Everett

Tuesday 22nd March. One of the richest clubs in the world, Manchester United, announce a shocking 50% drop in profits over the last half a year, claiming to have fallen victim to falling T.V. income and the cost of buying new players. This comes months after speculation over a potential takeover, costing £800m, from Malcolm Glazer. However, it is believed United are not set to change their stance over this controversial issue.

Whether it is to do with fans' protests or otherwise, the Red Devils, as they have always done, seem determined to make it on their own. Head down to London though, and you will see a very different story.

Before the start of last season, Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich invested heavily in Chelsea football club. Unlike at Old Trafford, there was little resistance. Once everything was made official, Chelsea unloaded a massacre on the transfer market, buying some of the players on offer.

The money used in this spending spree wasn't earned or won by the London club, but handed to them by Abramovich. Things didn't quite go to plan though; the season ended trophiless. Their best achievement being reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. Not a bad thing by any means, but when you spend as much money as Chelsea did, you expect to win everything. Overall though, it was a fairly good season, and any other club would have said well done to their manager, and hope to take it one step further next season. Not Chelsea!

Media criticism hit the blues when manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked, to be replaced by Champions League winner, Jose Mourinho. More money was spent on players, and Chelsea, now even stronger, tried again. At present, Chelsea lie 13 points ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal at the top with seven games to go. They're also in the quarter finals of the Champions League, and are some peoples favourites to win it. They've gone from being a top half Premiership team to possible Europe beaters in less than a year, through almost no work of their own. If it wasn't for Mr Abramovich, they would likely still be a top half Premiership side.

So where does that leave Manchester United? Should they eliminate any financial worries, accept Glazer's offer, and try to dominate like Chelsea? Or should they hold their ground, not cave into the offer and try to fight the Chelsea tyrant with the true passion that makes football great.

For some, the decision may seem simple, but before you finalise your opinion, you have to understand the true implications of what the decisions would mean. The impact, if Manchester United took the deal, would be felt on a much wider scale than just at Old Trafford.

Currently, there is only one club with bottomless funds; Chelsea. If United allowed Glazer in, that would be two clubs. Then their biggest rivals, Arsenal, would have to find their own tycoon to keep up. That would be three insanely rich clubs, who would dominate English football for decades, taking out the change of other clubs getting success, especially in the cups.

They would win, their bank balance would rise, and they would buy more players. Then they would win again, and so on. If this happened, the popularity of other clubs would fall, reducing their fan base, and they would gradually fall into administration due to lack of income, plunging English football into crisis. Eventually, there wouldn't be enough teams, so English football would be in an emergency. So then, should Manchester United accept Glazer's deal? True football fans will say no! Instead, they should do what they have always done; Continue to produce remarkable young talent and fight of tyrants like Abramovich and Glazer. People in football have to be careful during these times, because the demise of the sports we love could be closer then we think!

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