I don’t know about you but I think I can smell the beginning of a crisis over at Manchester United.

Forgetting for a moment the whole Glazer take-over situation, which was obviously a huge distraction, it now looks like the players themselves are showing the first signs of unrest.

I thought the last couple of months of uncertainty would have united the squad and pulled them together, but instead it seems to be having the opposite effect, at least at a subconscious level.

It’s hard to put your finger on what is going wrong. Sure there have been rumblings of discontent and incidents involving players refusing to board coaches and fans booing Ferdinand. Individually nothing too serious.

But I think there is something deeper, something more menacing lurking below the surface which is in danger of consuming the club’s season if it is not killed off quickly.

I sincerely hope I am wrong and that United pull themselves together. In my mind it is only them and Arsenal who stand between Chelsea and back-to-back titles.

Yet instinct combined with far, far too many years of loving football, tells me there is something wrong at Old Trafford. Something I feel Sir Alex is more than capable of sorting out but that needs sorting very quickly for the sake of their season.

Because if they do want to mount a decent challenge, they can’t afford another bad start.

Financial turmoil

Is there any wonder football league clubs are in financial turmoil?

Last season between them they handed out nearly eight million pounds in fees to agents, money which was effectively lost to the game.

To put things in perspective that amount of money would have been almost enough to cover the wage bills of all the teams in the bottom two leagues. For the entire season.

Instead it ended up being spent on luxury houses, holidays in the Bahamas and illegal Cuban cigars being passionately smoked by men and women whose love is not for football but for money.

I understand that agents are quite possibly a necessary evil in the modern game. But surely there has to be some way of regulating the way the work and the amounts they are able to skim off the top of transfer deals.

Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney has reacted with anger and shock over the figures and has called for regulations to be put into place which would mean agents only get paid by the player they are working for and not the clubs as well – unless they are specifically commissioned by a team to work on their behalf.

Yet apparently some Premier League clubs are against this system, for reasons I can’t begin to imagine, and would vote it down if the FA tried to impose it.

That leaves the Football League to look at the possibility of imposing the regulations alone, not quite as effective but a step in the right direction if some of that ridiculous amount of money is going to be saved and kept within the game itself.

Letter of week

Now, letter of the week from John Cassar.

“First of all, well done for an excellent column that is refreshing and fun. However, as a Chelsea fan I have to say I disagree with your comments about Shaun Wright Phillips.

“It is true that he may not get as much first team football at Chelsea as he would if he had stayed at Manchester City but he will gain in a lot in other ways. For example, he will be playing Champions League football next season for a start which will help him gain good experience against top level opposition. Also he will be playing alongside some of the best players in England and Europe as his Chelsea team mates are obviously brilliant.

“Then you have to add to that the fact that he will be playing for Jose Mourinho, a man who is probably the best manager in the Premier League and certainly the best motivator.

“Jose will protect Wright Phillips and help make him into a proper footballer and that, contrary to what you say, will be an advantage to England.

“Personally I can’t wait to see our midfield next season with Cole, Wright Phillips, Lampard, Duff, Robben and Makelele. Champions again for sure and probably European Champions too.”

Well, John, I understand your sentiments and some of your points are indeed valid ones. But I stick by what I said. The best thing for a player of Shaun’s age is regular, competitive, first-team football.

And I still very much doubt he will be getting that at Stamford Bridge.

Contact James on: [email protected]