Foul Play

So you're in charge of a football club. Both your men's and women's teams are in the highest leagues in the country. The women's team in particular are very successful - they finished third in the league and were runners up in the cup.

In contrast, the men's team have been slipping over the last couple of years and come the end of this season they actually get relegated. It's probably not entirely a bad thing - they could do with a year with less pressure in order to sort themselves out. It means a drop in income, but they've never been the sort of team to be wildly extravagant in their spending.

Nonetheless, the powers that be decide that they need to raise some more money for the next season. There are some good players that will be sold, because they can't really justify keeping hold of them when they're not in the top flight. But still they want more money. So what do you do? Get rid of the entire women's side. Everything from the title winning first team down to the training academies at the bottom.

Sound a bit daft? Well, it's exactly what Charlton Athletic have just done. As the (now ex-) captain of the women's side said, "the men get relegated and we get punished".

Hmph