I'VE got nothing against Damien Duff, but I hope Chelsea fall flat on their face this season.

It's got nothing to do with jealousy, or the north-south divide - it's to safeguard the future of the game.

Roman Abramovich's attempt to bankroll his way to the Premiership title has danger signs written all over it. Some would argue this is what Jack Walker did at Ewood Park, but Jack was a lifelong fan who invested in a dream.

Abramovich is a businessman loving his moment of fame, picking world-class footballers off the shelf like chocolate bars in a sweet shop.

Our best young, talented players who were settled at their clubs in the pre-Abramovich era are suddenly chasing the bright lights of Stamford Bridge, and the lure of the lucre.

What happens when the next Russian billionaire rolls into town, and does the same? And then the Arabs join in the game of 'football monopoly'? It will hardly be worth smaller clubs bothering to nurture talent if they know the best young players will track the cash like rats following the Pied Piper.

In 1977, the 'free agency' law was introduced in baseball to prevent this type of thing happening. Power was taken away from owners with fat wallets.

The rule means that when a player joins a team, he has to stay at that team for SIX years. Before those six years are up, he can only move to another side via a 'trade' - basically in a swap deal for one or more players. No money changes hands. In fact, that player has no monetary value at all.

So Chelsea would not have been allowed to wave the cash at the likes of Glen Johnson or Joe Cole at West Ham. Under baseball's free agency rule, all they could have done is offer, for example, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Jody Morris and Graeme Le Saux for Joe Cole in a trade.

Suddenly, money doesn't talk.

After six years of service at a club, a baseball player automatically becomes a free agent, when he has the choice of re-signing or going elsewhere. This is the first time a monetary value is put on a player's head.

The highest paid free agent is Alex Rodriguez, who signed for Texas as a free agent for a cool $220 million in wages in a 10-year deal. That's £15m a year in wages in our money.

In this country, football contracts mean nothing. If a player wants to leave, the club has little choice. Bring in the 'six year' free agency rule here, and suddenly the likes of Roman Abramovich are powerless.

And we might get a Premiership with more than four teams having a chance of winning the title.