It’s January 2008 and the half mark for the 2008-2009 football season has just been passed. With the pressure mounting on everyone involved in the nation’s top flight activity, there is a slight feeling of fear in the air of where the future of football’s Premier League is heading. Perhaps it could be my cynical side coming through but I’m sure I know of a few people who might agree with me….like Sam Allardyce or Martin Jol and even the special one…. Jose Mourinho.

Because unfortunately these are just some of the few good men that have become casualties of the changing face of the nation’s most coveted sport, the FA Premier League.

With the premiership becoming one of the most watched sporting events in modern day history, the unrivalled passion and dedication shown by the players and managers on a weekly basis ; quite simply makes captivating viewing. From the tension and excitement of which teams will surprise us all by throwing the form books out the window and pulling of major scalps in the premiership (Manchester City) to those teams that do just that but for the opposite reasons, (Spurs) the premiership always entertains and has us longing for when Saturday comes.

It for this exact reason that the premiership has witnessed more foreign direct investment than any other industry within the UK. Not only in the form of players and managers that wish to ply their trade within arguably the world’s most competitive football league but also by foreign billionaires who wish to diversify their bulging asset portfolio’s by owning majority stakes in premiership football clubs.

Whilst in its early stages, such investment has always been met with hostility from the clubs old faithful; it appears the sweeping trend is turning the top flight into a case for survival of the richest. With the richer clubs affording to buy more world class players and the poorer clubs having to rely on the lower divisions and reserve squads, the smell of foreign money has become too hard to resist as in some cases it plays a pivotal role in the life the modern day football club and keeps the threat of the Wolf (Administrators) that bit further away from the door.

However whilst the inflated financials that have been injected into the premier league have their positives, they also carry a sharp flip side which has played an unquestionable role in the sacking of some of the nation’s best managers.
Money in the game has reached astronomical levels which bear an equivalent level of pressure and responsibility that has seen managers given very little time to make an impact on a club when the results are going against them. Take Martin Jol, formally of Spurs as a  case in point.

It is this same level of pressure which has claimed Sam Allardyce, Billy Davies and a host of other managers as casualties. Whilst in previous times, the biggest luxury afforded to managers was the license to sign any player they deemed useful, this luxury has now morphed from being the call for “more finances” to simply being a plea for “more time”.
With long serving managers such as Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson increasingly becoming a rarer breed by the week, It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest that with the continued influx of foreign investment; we evolve to a position where football managers have a shelf life as long as a pint of milk.

Now whilst I’m no expert, it’s as clear as day that something needs to be done and fast to save the nations treasure from becoming a distant memory. I’m not saying stop the foreign investors or even suggesting my agreement with a proposed foreign player cap – but simply suggesting that we sit up and take stock of where the game is today and where it will be if we allow the weight of peoples wallets carry on influencing our game.

With the FA finally agreeing on a location for the new centre of football excellence, and the appointment of Capello as England manager, it could be said that things are looking up for the beautiful game in this country, however as previous experience has tough me, I think the proof will be in the pudding….