THE announcement of the English Premier League’s huge new TV deal has been greeted with elation by those at the top of the game but a growing sense of unease by most other people.

In my view, it’s a deal that reflects wider problems in the way the world is going. Adverts often say that things can go down as well as up. Money doesn’t seem to do that anymore. Instead, the larger the organisation or corporation, the more powerful the coin-attracting magnet they dangle over people seems to get.

I’ve spoken before about the balance to be struck between the improvisational abilities that young players can develop by playing street football balanced against the dangers of having that coached out of them by academies.

At the same time, you definitely need structures in place to develop young players (in all ways – including education, fitness, nutrition and more) and these need to be funded.

In my eyes, one of the greatest things about football is that it’s the global game. You can meet a football fan from across the world and find some common area of knowledge to strike up a conversation about. It should be a powerful unifying force.

Unfortunately, the truly global nature of it in terms of a financial ecosystem now means that what happens in a big enough country, or perhaps I should even say ‘market’, can have an impact across the world.

The English Premier League is the biggest, glitziest and richest league in the world these days. It’s hoovering up players from all across the globe but as these countries are the new breeding ground for the league’s talent – is the money actually going back to them?

Take Argentina, for example. Go back 30 years and the likes of Diego Maradona had found his way to Napoli via Barcelona but how many players were still locally based? How much better was the product being put in front of local fans? How much stronger were clubs like Boca Juniors and River Plate?

Of course, historically, clubs across the world used regulations favouring them to hold on to players’ registrations and keep them on wages significantly below what could be considered a rate proportionate to their pulling power. Now, though, I wonder if what started as a rebalancing of the scales has turned into something even more skewed.

Fans across the globe have access to the English Premier League via satellite TV and the internet. They compare the product of a richer league with their local leagues and it tarnishes it. As a result, their appetite for the local game diminishes. That only serves to further weaken their domestic clubs and, hence, the footballing product.

I mentioned Financial Fair Play the other week but I also pointed out the limitations in those regulations. The thing is, the increasingly exorbitant TV deals that English football commands means that those clubs can outspend the rest of the world while remaining within the parameters laid down by FFP. All they can’t do is actually challenge the order of strength within the league itself.

From my childhood to now, football has been about tearing down regulations. From the ban on English football being shown at the same time as Scottish matches to the three foreigners rule being removed from European competition. I welcomed those moves. It would feel jarring and unworkable to try to reintroduce them … yet I think we’ve reached the point where football does need more regulation.

Something English Premier League clubs will realise when there are no foreign clubs left to develop their next generation of stars.

Agree of disagree with what Teddy has written? You can tweet him @RossTeddyCraig or contact him online via his website ascottishwriter.com THE announcement of the English Premier League’s huge new TV deal has been greeted with elation by those at the top of the game but a growing sense of unease by most other people.

In my view, it’s a deal that reflects wider problems in the way the world is going. Adverts often say that things can go down as well as up. Money doesn’t seem to do that anymore. Instead, the larger the organisation or corporation, the more powerful the coin-attracting magnet they dangle over people seems to get.

I’ve spoken before about the balance to be struck between the improvisational abilities that young players can develop by playing street football balanced against the dangers of having that coached out of them by academies.

At the same time, you definitely need structures in place to develop young players (in all ways – including education, fitness, nutrition and more) and these need to be funded.

In my eyes, one of the greatest things about football is that it’s the global game. You can meet a football fan from across the world and find some common area of knowledge to strike up a conversation about. It should be a powerful unifying force.

Unfortunately, the truly global nature of it in terms of a financial ecosystem now means that what happens in a big enough country, or perhaps I should even say ‘market’, can have an impact across the world.

The English Premier League is the biggest, glitziest and richest league in the world these days. It’s hoovering up players from all across the globe but as these countries are the new breeding ground for the league’s talent – is the money actually going back to them?

Take Argentina, for example. Go back 30 years and the likes of Diego Maradona had found his way to Napoli via Barcelona but how many players were still locally based? How much better was the product being put in front of local fans? How much stronger were clubs like Boca Juniors and River Plate?

Of course, historically, clubs across the world used regulations favouring them to hold on to players’ registrations and keep them on wages significantly below what could be considered a rate proportionate to their pulling power. Now, though, I wonder if what started as a rebalancing of the scales has turned into something even more skewed.

Fans across the globe have access to the English Premier League via satellite TV and the internet. They compare the product of a richer league with their local leagues and it tarnishes it. As a result, their appetite for the local game diminishes. That only serves to further weaken their domestic clubs and, hence, the footballing product.

I mentioned Financial Fair Play the other week but I also pointed out the limitations in those regulations. The thing is, the increasingly exorbitant TV deals that English football commands means that those clubs can outspend the rest of the world while remaining within the parameters laid down by FFP. All they can’t do is actually challenge the order of strength within the league itself.

From my childhood to now, football has been about tearing down regulations. From the ban on English football being shown at the same time as Scottish matches to the three foreigners rule being removed from European competition. I welcomed those moves. It would feel jarring and unworkable to try to reintroduce them … yet I think we’ve reached the point where football does need more regulation.

Something English Premier League clubs will realise when there are no foreign clubs left to develop their next generation of stars.

Agree of disagree with what Teddy has written? You can tweet him @RossTeddyCraig or contact him online via his website ascottishwriter.com