League One - Murphy: More money, more problems

Eurosport - Fri, 08 May 12:55:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger and Fulham captain Danny Murphy laments the demise of two of his former clubs.

FOOTBALL 1995-96 Crewe Alexandra midfielder Danny Murphy - 0

It was a big disappointment for me to see Crewe Alexandra relegated. I've still got a lot of love for the club that first gave me a chance (pictured).

I thought they had got out of trouble for a while as they had a great run, but eventually things caught up with them because it is so hard for a club like Crewe to compete above their level financially.

Crewe is a small town and they have limited funds, but it is a well-run club and they don't push the boundaries beyond what they can afford. They never want to risk being in financial trouble which I think is sensible. The club has always been based on those principles and I admire that.

Ambition is one thing, but we are starting to see the consequences of some clubs trying to reach too far.

Just look at the likes of Charlton, Norwich and Southampton who were all in the top flight four years ago but now find themselves in League One.

Charlton are another of my former clubs and their situation saddens me. It wasn't so long ago that they were sitting mid-table in the Premier League and with a bit more financial backing I think Alan Curbishley could have maintained that.

I felt for him because he did such a good job getting stability in the Premiership for the club. There was contentment around the place. Now the club is going to find it really difficult to bounce back. They will struggle to pay wages to players who can get them out of the division.

It is more important than ever that people who run the financial side of clubs are very experienced. Crewe are a good example of a club that would never put themselves in financial jeopardy in order to pursue success and some other clubs could learn from that.

Money problems throughout the economy are going to transfer into football - we can't pretend the game will remain magically unaffected.

It wouldn't surprise me to see a big club struggling. Hopefully that won't happen but we don't know what is around the corner. All you can do is hope, and I am happy that we at Fulham have maintained a good financial situation.

The chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed has recently said he wants to stay in charge, and it is a well-run club that doesn't go crazy chasing improvements.

Fulham do not spend more money than they have coming in and everybody seems to be moving forward at the right pace. Nobody is trying to turn us into something we don't think we can be.

We have to build a squad slowly with an experienced manager, which we have been doing, and an owner who will be around for the foreseeable future.

Danny Murphy / Eurosport

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