AN 'embarrassment' was how the editor of one Sunderland fanzine described his side's participation in Saturday's historic first ever pay-per-view football game at the Manor.

His counterparts in Oxford were equally appalled that their beloved United were guinea pigs in the Sky Television and Nationwide League experiment.

"The largest clubs will ultimately reap the greatest benefits and clubs the size of Oxford will lose out in the long term," reckoned Paul Beevers, from Rage On.

Dan Curtis, from Yellow Fever, went further.

"This will merely make football's elite even more untouchable," he said. "And it will send smaller clubs towards part-time status."

It is apocalyptic talk, but it is worth listening to, because there is every chance that such gloomy prophesies will be fulfilled.

When the Premier League came into being, with Sky investing massive amounts to secure the exclusive rights to live games, it was widely predicted that lower division teams would suffer.

It was argued that the increased revenue Premier League clubs received from Sky would allow them to pay transfer fees and wages which very few Division 1 sides would be able to match.

Some were reckoned to have the resources to compete (Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Leicester and Bolton). Others, it was anticipated, would gamble on making it into the top flight by overstretching themselves financially, but most in Division 1 would come to accept that the Premier League would be an unrealistic goal for ever more.

There might have been exceptions - Swindon and Barnsley have gone up on modest resources. But what was feared has, on the whole, come to pass, with Oxford, Bury, Crewe and Port Vale unable to contemplate promotion, and Crystal Palace, who broke the bank in an attempt to make it in the Premiership, the first (of many?) big clubs to go into administration.

The fanzine editors and their ilk have got it right so far, and that is why they should not be ignored over pay-per-view.

Pay-per-view is another nail in the coffin of the shire town football team, because it makes a currency of fans and, therefore, amplifies the difference between well and lesser supported clubs.

Sky Television predicted that around 10,000 people would subscribe to last Saturday's match at £7.95 a go.

Probably 20 or 30 times that number would stump up for the privilege of seeing Man Utd against Arsenal, so it is easy to see who is likely to benefit from pay-per-view.

And nobody should be fooled as to the real motives for its introduction.

The Oxford v Sunderland game might have been dressed up as a service to fans in the North East who were unwilling to travel or unable to get a ticket. But television companies are not philanthropic.

In reality, last Saturday was a trial run, so that flaws could be ironed out for when the big money is made.

None of it, needless to say, will be going to Oxford United.

Story date: Monday 08 March

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.