Going South

Trading in the shares of Southampton FC was today suspended amidst fears that the club is about to go into financial administration. In the meantime, Cheltenham Town FC faces an anxious wait to find out whether their local council will loan them £100,000 to see the club through a difficult period. Add to this information, the following: in the last 20 years, an English football club has been in administration at least 65 times; moreover, there are claims that the accumulated debt of English football is running at somewhere between £2 billion and £3 billion. Given the precedent set by recent government bailouts of financial institutions, is it: a) time for the government to step in and bailout football? b) feasible for the government to bailout football? and c) morally and/or socially acceptable for the government to bailout football? Or has football created its own financial problems and should therefore be left to deal with them on its own? And what might the European Union, Michel Platini, Sepp Blatter et al. have to say about such a move?