The stampede of hypocrites on their high horses towards football’s fiscal courtroom almost outnumbers the runners and riders in Grand Nationals.Manchester City are understood to be the principal culprits in the Over Spending Stakes with more than 100 convictions for breaching the game’s financial regulations to the ear-drum busting tune of £900million.If their appeal fails they deserve a good whipping. But anyone who believes they are the only miscreants in this affair is delusional. Be sure that more than one other Premier League club is feeling privately grateful to City for taking all the heat.Whatever punishment befalls City – be it relegation by one or more divisions, stripping of past honours, a points deduction, banishment from the Premier League for several seasons or a fine meaningless to the club’s Middle East billionaire owners – the damage to football will not be forever lasting.Public trust in the national sport was far more drastically undermined by the match-fixing scandal of 1964 which resulted in Sheffield Wednesday stars Peter Swan, Tony Kay and David ‘Bronco’ Layne among ten players jailed for defrauding the poor old bookies.They were also banned from football, initially for life, but that sentence was commuted after eight years and they returned in their chastened maturity to find the game more beautiful than when they were exiled.An example had been made. Now the issue is how to fix the optic of greed and it is much more complex than simply kicking City into the middle of next season.Football can come out of this better, fresher and bolder if it nerves itself to deal with these underlying flaws which are destabilising the game. Manchester City have been found guilty on the vast majority of the 115 charges laid against them, and the scandal could do serious damage to English football Public trust in the national sport was also undermined by the match-fixing scandal of 1964 which saw Sheffield Wednesday stars including David ‘Bronco’ Layne (pictured) jailedEND THE TRANSFER MANIAMuch of the insanity explodes in January when desperation to either add impetus to title challenges or shore up a collapsing season raises fees out of all rational proportion.Close that window for good. Transfer business should only be conducted in the sunny calm between one week after the FA Cup final and one week before the Community Shield. Clubs would then have to play out full seasons with the squad they presumably regarded as good enough at the start.That would restore the recruitment process to astute scouting rather than frenzied guessing.One chapter in the late, great Brian Clough’s autobiography was comprised of a single page left blank beneath this heading: Everything Directors Know About Football.When the panic sets in, board members tend to start throwing money at reputations, celebrities and big names. Rather than buying the players managers need to jigsaw into their teams.If the market stayed dark in January, the proper development of youth would be tested, too, with first-team graduation going to the most likely lads. Which would be of potential benefit to England, also.IMPOSE AN UPPER LIMIT ON TRANSFER FEESThis era of the £100million footballer has thrown fees utterly out of kilter. Of the English players in that coterie, Elliot Anderson at Manchester City and Declan Rice at Arsenal are basically midfield anchors, not razzle-dazzlers. Morgan Rogers cost Chelsea marginally more than either of that pair because he brings a touch more creativity plus, albeit occasionally, a sharper eye for goal.Jack Grealish is a loveable maverick but how on earth is he picking up £300,000 a week pottering about as a loanee to Everton from Manchester City. This is the era of the £100million footballer – but Declan Rice is only a midfield anchor, and Morgan Rogers (centre) cost even more because he brings a touch more creativity If each of this lot costs a hundred million or more, then how much would George Best (centre with Jeff Powell, right) cost now?As for the costliest Premier League player ever, the jury is still out on Liverpool’s £125million Swedish striker Alexander Isak. Even though an early season flurry of four goals in five matches has improved his overall record from three in 14 games to a still-modest seven in 19.If each of this lot costs a hundred million or more, then how much would George Best, Sir Tom Finney, Sir Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves, Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Bobby Moore, Denis Law, Bryan Robson, Paul Gascoigne and a young Harry Kane – to name but a few – be worth today? £200million? £300million?Since the median price for elite players is around £60million, let us set £75million as the maximum price permitted. If major clubs in Europe cannot be pressed into joining these conditions, they would only have a couple of midsummer months in which to pilfer the best the Premier League has to offer.BRING BACK THE MAXIMUM WAGEThis was the most hated factor in professional football when salaries were set in 1901 at £4 a week in the playing season and £1 in summer. The struggle to end that iniquity inched on with grudging rises until 1961 when the system was abolished. Fulham immediately made Johnny Haynes – who was described by Pele as the best passer of a ball he’d ever seen – the first £100 a week footballer. However, he was never given a raise in his last nine years at Craven Cottage. The floodgates did not burst completely. As late as 1969 – three years after England won their solitary World Cup – Manchester United paid an annual total of just £204,028 in wages and bonuses to their entire squad, which included Best, Charlton and Law.Not that managers fared any better. The legendary Bill Shankly, who transformed Anfield from a muddied field and a tin hut in the Second Division into the roaring home of Liverpool champions, was on £2,500 a season during the early years of that labour of love. A far cry from the multi-millions earned by the likes of Pep Guardiola and his protege Mikel Arteta. Professor Pep and Manic Mikel are good managers but do not hold a candle to Shanks, Fergie, Paisley, Jock, Sir Matt and Cloughie. The legendary Bill Shankly was on £2,500 a season during the early years of his labour of love at AnfieldOdd how Man City always seem to be on the rich end of these conversations.At the moment, with the exception of their goal machine Erling Haaland picking up the thick end of half a million a week, the higher salaries hover around £300,000 weekly.While no one should accept a return to punitive parsimony, a salary cap of £250,000 a week reviewed every other year would feel balanced. With players given freedom of their image rights so they can enhance that income by negotiating personal sponsorship, advertising and marketing deals.RESTRICT THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS ON THE BOOKS OF EVERY CLUBThe first time I drove the 86 miles and one-and-a-half hours from Dubai to Abu Dhabi another fabled manager was my passenger. Don Revie was in the throes of resigning the underpaid England job so as to secure his family’s financial future by coaching the United Arab Emirates for the forefathers of the current owners at the Etihad.We were both astonished to see so many of the most expensive cars in the world simply abandoned off that long strip of road, in the desert sands. One diplomat wryly explained: ‘Many of the young princes ditch these vehicles when the ashtrays are full and buy the next new model.’The Sheikhs of Arabia are not so profligate these days but the story prompts comparison with the fate that befalls some footballers in overstocked clubs. The likes of Chelsea have been cutting back a bit but there was a time when they had 40, perhaps close to 50 players on the books. Many of them dumped around England and Europe in lowly holding clubs in case required for recall in emergency. Some never to be seen in action again. No registered squad needs to be bigger than 30, maximum. Even at that number some careers are at risk of being ruined by inactivity, their money running out, hope dwindling. Time to put a cap on this, too. Chelsea (pictured on their 2026 pre-season tour of Australia) have stockpiled squads of over 40 players in recent yearsRESTORE THE LOAN SYSTEM TO ITS ORIGINAL CONCEPTThe borrowing of players was intended to give talented youngsters the opportunity to gain playing time and competitive experience while helping out small clubs. Until they were deemed ready for recall.Definitely not to shuttle the burden of wage bills around the top clubs. The lending of players between Premier clubs compromises the league’s honesty. Such deals should be a no-no. As should the loaning of players between the major European leagues in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Scandinavians and the UK of course. Which threatens the integrity of the Champions League.THEN WHAT?No doubt the banishment of City to the wilderness of the National League would cause much glee and gloating. It would be interesting to see if Haaland regretted not having a relegation escape clause included in his contract. As well as how many of his current team-mates would be willing to wait at least four years for a return to Premier League and European football. No matter how much they would be paid for sampling the delights of Hornchurch and Tamworth FCs. Will Erling Haaland come to regret not having a relegation escape clause included in his contract?But while this would be a warning shot to all, it would not address the root causes which tempt financial malfeasance. Enacting the proposals set out here would make cooking the books nigh-on impossible for City or anyone else. Manchester United would eventually be relieved of using every penny of their revenue to pay off the interest on those gigantic debts.Most vitally of all, these measures would begin levelling the playing field and thereby broaden competition for all the glittering prizes, rather than letting a wealthy and privileged few keep playing monopoly with the people’s game.