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There is a very famous book by E.F. Schumacher entitled ‘Small is Beautiful’ where the author offers a radical alternative view to mega-mergers, to conglomeratisation, to globalisation - all the buzz phrases that the press are currently so keen on. He argues that in every case (for a company, for a city, for a population, for whatever), there is a natural maximum size above which the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. And this book was written in the seventies when the scale of the current business mergers was probably unimaginable. This book is a ‘must read’ for any self-respecting green - that’s green as in environmentalist, of course.

So let’s have a look at some of the current trends :

• Three oil companies (Exxon-Mobil, BP Amoco and Shell) are carving up the world’s energy resources between them.
  
• Microsoft have grown to an alarmingly powerful position in the pc software market and appear to pursue a ruthless policy of putting any competition out of business, allegedly.
  
• In banking, the big are eating the small at an incredible pace - in ten years time you may well be writing Royal Bank of Scotland cheques but in the small print it will quite likely say something like, ‘a member of the Nomura or Deutsche Bank or Chase Manhattan or whatever Group’.
  
• Thomson holidays has just been swallowed whole by a bigger German travel group.
  
• Ford and Volkswagen are relentlessly taking over smaller car manufacturers across the globe.
  
• Etc, etc, etc.

So what does all this do for choice. It means that the average consumer like you or I will likely bank with a Japanese firm, drive a French car, book our holidays with a German firm and entrust our mortgage to an American lender. And we will likely do it without grumbling and think little of it because it is the way things are.

And so to sport and more specifically, football. Football is moving relentlessly down the same path where the big are getting bigger and the small are struggling.

I believe we will shortly enter a phase where the small will not only struggle; they will die. The shakeout is just around the corner. The same imperatives that apply in the business world will dominate football - it will be merge, takeover, grow or perish.

I don’t think it is fanciful to predict the day when all that is left of Scottish football is Rangers and Celtic playing in the European Super-dooper Mega League, third division.

Smaller teams used to survive by selling their star players on and re-investing the money. Those days are numbered. Soon, the bigger teams will simply take the players they want at will. Bosman did away with transfer fees for players out of contract. ‘Bosman 2’ as it is being called will deem transfer fees for players in contract illegal. Football will be governed by the same rules as other businesses. In business, when you head-hunt a person, you just buy out their contract with their current employer.

Now you may think that football cannot do without the smaller clubs feeding the bigger ones and that the bigger clubs will somehow allow the smaller teams to survive because they need them. I would agree that the bigger clubs will want the smaller clubs to survive but they will dictate in what format these teams survive. Rangers have just bought a controlling interest in an Australian club. In Spain and Italy, feeder clubs is not a new concept. That is the method, I believe, the larger clubs will employ to ensure their supply of players. So the day may come soon when you go along to cheer on St. Johnstone, say, but you are really cheering an Arsenal feeder club. And, of course, being a feeder club effectively caps your growth potential. You can only grow as big as your owner club dictates. Becoming a feeder club, sells your independence and right to challenge the big boys forever.

Taking the argument to its logical conclusion, you may well see a time when the average Scottish child, keen on football, will support Barcelona or Juventus. Just as his father drives a French car and saves with a German bank. If you want to support a ‘premier’ team then the choices presented to you will be limited, in the same way that choice is being eroded in every other walk of life.

So is this a mouth watering prospect ? Well I can’t speak for you, but it certainly leaves me cold. I have to admit that big club games are already turning me off. In the seventies and eighties, the attraction of European football was seeing a clash of styles, a British style versus a Spanish style, say. Now when you switch on Chelsea v Barcelona, you are watching one group of mixed nationals facing another group of mixed nationals and it does not really excite me. (And you could say, with some justification, that the only reason the superstars grab the badge on the shirt after scoring and raise it to their faces is not out of love for the club but to remind themselves who it is they are playing for).

So call me old fashioned but small is beautiful to me. I want to see choice remain in all walks of life and I particularly want to see Scottish football survive from the grass roots upwards. In my opinion the disadvantages of football consolidating its money more and more in the mega teams far outweigh the advantages.

And I am a green - that’s green as in Hibernian supporter this time. I want Hibs to grow and challenge the best but even if they don’t, I could never support any other team, no matter how glamorous the media coverage portrays that team. You will never convince me that being a part of Man United plc is what I should be aiming for.