Financial goalposts on move.

Byline: PAULINE McLAUGHLIN

I AM reeling in disbelief at the financial quicksands that football clubs are built upon.

Lowly Boro, for example, are millions of pounds in debt and if we are unfortunate enough to be relegated, we could sink into oblivion like Leeds - a very bad thing for a town like ours whose many supporters will be bereft without a Premiership game to go to or follow every week.

We have a second to none sponsor in Steve Gibson but, in the current climate, he cannot be expected to keep opening the purse.

It's the big boys, however, who really get my goat. I read in the Gazette that Carlos Tevez's agents are "demanding" a fee of pounds 30m.

Silly money - how does one decide that he's worth it, I wonder? I also spotted that infamous winker Ronaldo with the usual petulant scowl on his face, as he flung away a proffered tracky top to cover his precious shoulders - poor little rich boy! These players' wages are obscene, and don't even put a smile on their faces! Any sport left in football has sadly been overtaken by money, and the Premiership is never going to be "fair game" for other clubs as long as the top four reign supreme.

Pity - it could be a really exciting game if everyone played it like true sportsmen.

PAULINE McLAUGHLIN, Acklam, Middlesbrough

CAPTION(S):

THE pounds 30m MAN: Carlos Tevez takes on Spurs' Michael Dawson