While our Chief Executive continues to arm wrestle the Ajax board for the services of Martin Jol, it's no surprise to learn that money is the main bone of contention. None of the three parties can now emerge from this unseemly situation unscathed, as we take an overview of football's fragile finances.

Martin Jol says he wants to ply his trade at Fulham in preference to Ajax Amsterdam. Take a moment to soberly consider that. A Dutchman is ready to turn his back on the biggest club side in Holland, with 4 European Cups, one European Cup-Winners Cup, one UEFA Cup, two times World Club champions and countless league titles to their name, in preference to a small London club that has never won anything of note apart from promotion, and no, I'm not forgetting the Intertoto Cup.

Many years ago I had a TV show on African football. At the Amsterdam Arena I interviewed their star Africans of the day and both Martin Olsen and Frank Rijkaard. Their academy was the envy of the game. I covered the inauguration of their spectacular new stadium, saw first hand how blessed they were in comparison to the smaller Dutch clubs in the Eredivisie with their following of 10,000 regular fans. Now we learn the Ajax board can't or won't stump up a sizeable transfer kitty for Jol and that players must be off-loaded to compensate for a 20 million Euro loss last season. Only 20 mill? Perhaps our friends in Amsterdam should stop sniffing the marijuana and start smelling the coffee. Take a look around you.

Football's business model is in bits, and it must only be a matter of time before the bubble bursts as spectacularly as the Big Banks bust of 2007. This summer we've seen a 150 million Euro cash call from Barcelona after the club admitted it could not pay the players. Manchester United and Liverpool between them are carrying one BILLION pounds of debt. The daily interest charges to service this debt are more than most supporters will earn in a year.

At our own beloved club there is no rationale for having to buy big and upscale salaries to stay competitve on gates averaging under 24,000. If this is a vanity project for most club chairmen, all well and good - and you might argue it was ever thus harking back to the local Victorian merchants and worthies who first ran clubs. But Mohammed al-Fayed didn't amass his fortune by ignoring sound business principles, yet to date he's burned his way through £250 million plus getting Fulham to the Prem and keeping them there. Is anyone out there seriously going to be fronting up this kind of money to take FFC on when Mo heads permanently to Monaco to preserve what's left of his pension?

The next round of TV rights will be very interesting. Setanta foolishly tried to tackle Sky head on, and it bankrupted them. ESPN are a different animal, enjoying a much cosier relationship with Murdoch. With no bidding war in prospect, England's national team going backwards, and a new dawn of austerity about to chill the bones of every European - see what happens to club finances across the board when Sky decide they no longer need to pay top dollar. The process is already happening in Spain.

Meanwhile, back in Amsterdam, spare a thought for the poor Ajax chairman (himself an insurance tycoon). He wants someone to make up his twenty million shortfall, and he aint budging until Fulham find the compensation to close the deal, Jol tears up his contract and walks, or the whole thing hits the fan...a bit like football's future.

As you the fans are the ones being forever forced to dig deeper to get your footie fix, either live or via pay-TV, I'd love to hear your views. Also all you accountants and graduates out there...am I getting it so spectacularly wrong? Every trip I've made to the Nou Camp, and there have been many, 80-90,000 people for home games...and even Barcelona are losing money???