SO John Terry is apparently earning roughly the same amount a day as I rake in over the course of 12 months - fair play to him.

The England captain's reported £150,000 per week salary was labelled as "obscene" by sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe.

Terry is arguably the best central defender in the Premier League, as well as captain of his club and country, so if anyone deserves to be on top dollar, it is the Chelsea linchpin.

But what sits so unwell with fans of our national sport, is that you don't have to be a top player these days to be rolling in cash, fancy cars and luxurious homes.

You don't have to be an international, you don't even have to be the best player at your club, but if you are playing regularly in the Premier League then you will probably be made for life.

It's a short career for footballers and, if anyone deserves to make money out of the most lucrative football league in the world, it is the men on the pitch.

I'd certainly rather see a young lad, who entertains crowds each week, cruising around in an Aston, than watch one of the board members pull into the stadium car park behind the wheel of a Bentley.

Players are one of the two sets of people the game is about, so who better to pick up the big pay cheques than them - agreed.

But, in the mist of all this dough, the other set of individuals the game depends upon - loyal fans - are fast being unforgivably forgotten.

Despite TV income increasing for top clubs up and down the country, many have refused to drop their ticket prices.

And, in the wake of escalating entry costs, the sport's controllers are losing the very people football used to mean most to - the everyday punters.

What can be done to change the situation now?

A salary cap is one option, but this would have to be European to make competing for the Champions League and UEFA Cup an even playing field. Though this option simply won't happen, clubs would never agree to it.

The influx of investment into the English game is also a worry and, if and when this income is pulled, the clubs will no longer be sustainable.

Another worry of mine is the increasing influence of money on lower level football.

Fans disillusioned by the professional game have taken to watching their local non-league side.

But the very thing that took the romance away from the professional game for these supporters seems rife from Wessex League level up.

In my job, the only thing managers are more eager to tell you about than how much money they haven't got at their disposal is how affluent their rival clubs are.

And I must be honest, the stories I've heard about non-league clubs and their playing budgets is very disturbing, even if there is only a hint of truth in the rumour mill.

Whatever happened to playing for the love of the game, rather than the lure of cash?

Perhaps I'm just an idealist and romantic at heart, but I can't be the only one concerned for the future of football from grass roots up.

The fact that so many clubs outside the Premiership struggle to simply make ends meet each month backs up the theory that something needs to be done sooner rather than later.

Quite what the solution is I do not know.