Is it just me...?

Thirty years ago Trevor Francis became the first British football player to cost a club £1 million pounds in transfer fees. He moved from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in February 1979 - I was heading for my 10th birthday and thought that was crazy! One whole Million Pounds just for a footballer - "Blimey, he must be fantastic!" I thought!

While recognised as the first million pound player, the actual transfer fee for Trevor Francis was £999,999 - £1 short of the million mark as Brian Clough, famous 'grumpy' manager of Nottingham Forest, wanted to ensure this milestone mark did not go to the player's head, although with taxes the total fee exceeded £1.1m.

1979, go on, you remember - For the first time in history a woman, Margaret Thatcher, was elected Prime minister in the UK. As technology got smaller, Sony released the Walkman - a worldwide success costing $200, which at that time was a significant amount of money.

The first Snowboard was invented in the USA. The bombing by the IRA in England continued with Lord Mountbatten and three others assassinated. The price of oil reached a new record of $24 per barrel, gas (petrol - see I'm almost bi-lingual now) was 86 cents a gallon. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released...The average cost of a new house in the US was $58,100.

Now here we are 30 years on...What must today's 10 year olds make of the proposed transfer of Brazilian midfielder Kaka from Milan to Spanish club, Real Madrid for 56 Million?! The world has changed, we have a black President not a female Prime Minister, an Ipod is less than $200 and a new Star Trek movie has just come out...well ok, maybe we haven't changed that much...but...

We have transfer fees for footballers at £56 Million, bids at £73 Million, even allegedly £100 Million from Manchester City. Football at the highest level, it seems, is recession proof. Although most fans have to check their wallets to see if they can stretch their budgets to buy a ticket each week, that does not affect boardrooom or front office decisions.

But the question for me, is Kaka really 56 times better than Trevor Francis? Now I know we need to take inflation into account, but if inflation was the only factor then a new house in the US would average over $3.25 Million (not $238,880), a barrel of oil would cost $1,344 (not $60), and a gallon of gas would cost $48 (not $2.50)! No, it is not inflation, it is business.

Players are assets, investments...how many shirts can they sell? Nobody will ever be able to top Mr Beckham for that...add to the fact that football clubs have now become the play things of the rich and powerful - Middle Eastern oil sheiks, Russian mobst...sorry entrepreneurs, American investors - and money actually isn't that important to them. £50 Million is small change...

Trevor Francis had a wapping salary of £100,000 plus bonuses in the early 80's; many a top player now earns far more than that in a week! Can football sustain this? Will the fans stay loyal, as the players become so wealthy they become more and more detached from the kids (and grown men!) that idolise them?

Is it just me, or is real football becoming more like 'fantasy football' with every inflated salary and transfer deal? Shame...