While discussing the unfathomable earnings at the top level of football, Morecambe manager Jim Bentley revealed to Sports Mole that the reported £615,000 weekly salary of Carlos Tevez at Shanghai Shenhua could be used to build an entire squad at his League Two club.
That example proves just how the heavyweights of the game are pulling away from the lower divisions and taking the pot of gold with them.
Due to the increasing importance of money and branding in football, it makes it that much more heartwarming when a story of generosity and community spirit comes to light.
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The fans of Morecambe recently clubbed together to raise £1,000 to cover Bentley's fine, which was issued by the Football Association along with a two-match touchline ban after the Liverpool-born coach reacted angrily to Alex Kenyon's sending-off against Cheltenham Town in December.
Bentley was visibly emotional when he learned of the fans' generosity, and as a thank you, he teamed up with EFL sponsors Sky Bet to offer each fan a free pie and a pint or soft drink at the next home game, which will be against Cambridge United on February 11 at Globe Arena.
The gesture from Morecambe's fans signifies how football is still a crucial part of local life, and as Bentley says, remains the "heartbeat of communities".
"All the money is in the Premier League. It's a global brand and a massive business, but there's an awful lot of football fans who follow teams in the EFL," Bentley told us. "There's some big clubs from the Championship right down to League Two. In this day and age, it does seem to be all about the Premier League.
"You can't forget your history, though, and some of these clubs go right through families and generations. They're the heartbeat of communities and it's very important that they get the support that they need to be able to carry on and develop and stay afloat in some cases. It's in the blood of people and in the blood of families and generations of many years gone by. We need it. Football is a big thing in this country, everyone gets behind their particular team and we all want to be successful."
Bentley has spent almost 15 years at Morecambe, nine of which were as a player before he moved into management in 2011, but he is well aware of the rising cost of football for fans at Premier League level because he grew up supporting Everton.
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"People travel from all over to get tickets to the game and the average 'Joe Public' who lives in the city might not be blessed to have the finances to watch their team," said the 40-year-old. "It's extremely hard to get your hands on tickets to watch a team at Premier League level - that's the place to be and that's why everyone's striving to get into the league. It's not just the finances that you get from being there, it's the knock-on effect with regards to global branding, support and money coming in from all over the world.
"When you come to League Two level, certainly you can go to the likes of Portsmouth and get 18,000 in the ground and 18,000 of them will probably be from within the area and the community. I do think the smaller clubs have that better community base. I'm not saying they don't at Premier League level, though. I don't really get to watch Everton much but I still care about them and if I get a chance, I'll go if we haven't got a game. If they're on the television I'll watch them because that's the club I support, but certainly the smaller clubs are at the focal point of the community."
The lucrative opportunities being offered to footballers in the Far East have dominated the headlines of late, with the likes of Tevez and former Chelsea players John Obi Mikel and Oscar becoming the latest high-profile names to switch to the Chinese Super League.
The staggering wages, some of which amount to half a million pounds a week, raise the question of what it means for the future of football, and how the cash-strapped clubs in lower leagues can continue to survive.
Morecambe themselves are dealing with financial strife after their Brazilian majority shareholder Diego Lemos, who took over the club in September, left the country on November 17 and has not been heard from since.
"The rich seem to be getting richer and the poor seem to be getting poorer," said Bentley. "Football at our level is very difficult - we don't have the sponsorship, we don't get the attendances. At the top level it's where everyone wants to be involved, it's the main global brand.
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"The Chinese league at the minute... Carlos Tevez is reported to be on £610,000 a week. I could build a squad on that which would last the whole season. We all love the game and we all want what's right for the game. We don't want to lose clubs and clubs of big towns and cities from the lower levels while the ones at the top get richer and richer.
"I think people in general in this country are beginning to look at the Premier League and the local people are getting pissed off because it's that expensive. I know a lot of people who used to go [and watch] Liverpool and Everton, but they don't anymore. They're getting annoyed that players are getting paid astronomical amounts of money to go and play, and the cost of eating there, taking your family, 'Joe Bloggs' can't afford to do it anymore.
"People can interact more and look towards lower league football as a bit more realistic. Something's got to be done because [there's so much] money going into the Premier League and other leagues, like the American leagues. They seem to be getting big players out there - David Beckham started it and then Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo went over. The Indian league had a little go and now the Chinese league are taking the likes of Oscar, Tevez and they're rumoured to be after Diego Costa. It's just making a joke of the whole situation - the money that's getting thrown around. Little towns and cities at our level are really feeling the pinch."
A major problem for the lower divisions is that TV companies in this country tend to focus on Premier League, Championship and European matches, which lessens exposure to clubs that could really benefit from broadcasting rights.
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Bentley believes that there is a demand for more lower-league football on television, and even though he has praised the BBC and BT Sport for giving clubs in his position air time in the FA Cup, he thinks that there is a long way to go before they receive the deserved recognition.
"It can build the interest if it's put on TV a bit more because some of the Premier League supporters may latch on to lower league teams. I know people in the Merseyside area who say, 'I can't be bothered to go to Liverpool or Everton anymore, I might watch Morecambe or Accrington Stanley - start watching them on a more regular basis'. That's hopefully what will happen because we need it.
"If you turn the TV on and it's Liverpool vs. Manchester United and Everton vs. Manchester City on a Sunday afternoon, people all around the world are watching it. Whereas if you turn on Morecambe vs. Accrington a lot of people might decide to watch something else, but if it's pushed a little bit more... obviously the Sky money would come in handy because everyone's after a little bit more at our level.
"Some teams have made it - the likes of Portsmouth don't have to struggle because they have the attendances - but certainly the likes of ourselves or Accrington, clubs like that, do. You see more and more of them now. The teams I used to play against, like Scarborough, are in some decent areas in the country but they just fall off a cliff and are never to be seen again. It's sad to see."
Danielle Joynson
