Every generation has thugs like Joey Barton. Some of us remember Don Revie’s Leeds side of the 1970′s. Not pretty at all.

A biggest issue for me is how young breakthrough players are recruited by the big clubs. If things were on a more even keel money-wise, then West Ham could boast a team consisting of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Jermaine Defoe, etc. Half the England team there, and all, with the exception of Carrick, East London boys. And the next crop have arrived, and no doubt the big clubs will come sniffing soon. It means that the less monied clubs will never get traction and never be able to mount a serious challenge on the top 4.

Your post sums up what a lot of people in the UK feel. I am a Liverpool fan and have been for many years. Was I pleased that our club got a massive cash injection when we were bought, no I wasn’t! I seem to be in the minority though, most fans just want to compete.

I remember a time when most Everton and Liverpool players were from (shock, horror!) Liverpool! Nowadays most of the players and the fans are from outside the region, or even the country (especially in the case of Man Utd).

I wish Chelsea had never been bought by Abramovic and I wish we could go back 20 years, back to the days when football was football, not simply a business.

The game has got a lot dirtier over the years too, just look at Joey Barton, he’s just a thug! Football could learn a lot from Rugby. There was a time when he would have been banned from football, but evidently nowadays the business is more important than credibility.

There should certainly be a salary cap, although that would have to be brought in throughout Europe, or the players would just jump ship. It is never going to happen though, and we will be left looking back at the highlight reel thinking “football is not what it used to be”.