Football is now a multibillion-dollar global industry. Unfortunately, the haphazard way in which money has flowed into the game – reminiscent of a misguided, wild-west style of capitalism – is having some seriously harmful effects. The time has come to take action to curb the excesses and ensure that the sport protects its roots.

While the International Football Federation (Fifa (the Federation of International Assocations)) now has a bullet-proof balance-sheet, as well as a procedure of reinvesting roughly 75 per cent of the income it generates directly into the world game, the same cannot be said of some of our 207 national members, let alone many clubs.