I HAVE a lot of time for Arsenal. Down the years they have been the only team who have tried to stop the Premiership looking like the biggest one horse race since that race that only had one horse in it.

But after agreeing to pay Sol Campbell £100,000 a week a little part of me would like to see them go down and stay down.

The reason is that I would love to see the panic that would set in if one of the really big clubs lost their Premiership status and the megabucks that go with it.

If Arsenal had more than two seasons out of the top flight they would have no hope of paying Campbell that sort of money for the duration of his four year contract or pay the wages of their other millionaire players.

The Uniteds, Liverpools, Arsenals and Chelseas are so confident, some might say arrogant, that they can't be relegated that they are prepared to play Russian roulette with their very existence to stay at the top.

Such outrageously high wages - and the millions of pounds that go to agents - is bad for football because it means all the money is going out of the game, leaving nothing left for clubs to use to build and strengthen their business. The hardest hit are the small clubs who face a growing threat of extinction.

The Derby County boss Jim Smith called for a wage cap last week. It won't happen yet because the top players and clubs are greedy and see no reason to stop being greedy. Maybe when the first big club goes out of business because of wild overspending the penny will drop.