Sepp Blatter, FIFA president, said yesterday that there will be no way back for Chelsea from their transfer ban. Blatter is well known for his erratic and sometimes questionable views as the head of global football but insists that such a punishment must be carried out.

Chelsea were banned from signing players for two years after it emerged that they had approached a number of teenagers illegally, offering them incentives to break their contracts and move to London. Although these players and their families will now be better off because of Chelsea, it does not excuse the way the club conducted their business and they will now have to rely on their squad and youth system to produce talent.

Blatter said: “There are clubs now who are looking at their books, some have even announced that a certain player has no contract with them and he is an amateur. They have done this to try to make sure that the player does not come under the jurisdiction of congress.”

“They are taken at 14 or 15 years old with clubs saying that their parents are going too. But they get put into another family, and what happens to them? One out of say 20 has a chance to go on in their career. The others are left, and they need to be protected.”

“We have now had a case [Chelsea] to analyze. It has been done by a committee with a judge and representatives of many clubs. That has now been settled. I have been asked by officials in Brazil to stop the exodus of their young players. We will do the same in Africa. We are trying to organize leagues [in South America and Africa] so players there can earn a decent living. That takes time, but we have started because it is the only way to protect young players.”

So it seems that the example has been set and it will be followed. Any similar circumstances will warrant exactly the same sort of punishment and this is highly worrying when you consider the number of Premier League clubs that have been mentioned in relation to player tapping.

Maybe certain clubs have pounced on the news about Chelsea and see an opportunity to get certain clubs punished. Previously this would have been impossible due to the legal superiority that big clubs can raise and even in the case of Le Havre, Manchester United have already flexed their legal muscle.

Liverpool have become the latest Premier League club to be involved in the tapping up scandal that has infested English football. Crewe Alexandra have reported Liverpool after it emerged in the press that they had approached an unnamed 15-year-old player illegally.

The news comes shortly after Chelsea were banned from signing any players for the next two transfer windows, Manchester United about to launch legal action against Le Havre and reports of an apparent ban proposal to be put towards Manchester City.

It seems that the only way the biggest clubs in England are going to learn is if they are punished severely. At current it appears that there are holes all over the system that top clubs have been abusing and if these allegations from Crewe are correct then Liverpool could be next in the firing line.

Dario Gradi, Crewe’s Director of Football, said: “We have a situation where one of our 15-year-olds has been approached. He is an outstanding player by any standards and he has come in and told us that he wants to leave right now to join a big club.”

“The big clubs are stealing other people’s players and you worry financially for the clubs where the players are stolen from. What sort of compensation are we going to get for all the work that has gone into developing him? Any compensation is insignificant for the effort that gone in.”

“I’m delighted with what has happened with Chelsea. I would hope all the big clubs are frightened to death. There is no excuse for breaking the rules. We lost a 12-year-old to Everton. He was our best 12-year-old. The lure is that the bigger clubs pay big expenses. This kid will be getting several hundred pounds a week in expenses. We pay expenses but nothing like that. It’s more a case of giving out £20 if someone can pick a kid up en-route.”

Gradi’s point is a very simple one, only until similar situations appear, like the one at Chelsea, will big clubs stop poaching players from the clubs that have developed them. These are clubs that are in no position at all to be able to stop the bigger sides from offering financial incentives as a reward for playesr to break their contracts.

Credit must go for the action that has been brought against Chelsea but there has to be a universal action to stop poaching all together.