The 1960’s saw Northampton Town make a remarkable rise through the divisions of the Football League, going from the 4th to the 1st in the space of just five seasons before an equally speedy descent back into the basement division.
Their ascent, and that of others from the basement of English football, gave hopes and dreams to all smaller clubs that the system of promotion and relegation together with the relatively fair means of financial distribution could one day allow them their shot at the big-time.
That system of financial distribution (for instance whereby away teams received a share of gate receipts for league matches) gradually ended and the advent of the Premier League increased the concentration of wealth among a smaller percentage of the 92 clubs.
Last week the Premier League announced a new television rights deal worth £3bn from the 2013/14 season onwards, a staggering 70% rise on the previous contracts.
Even the side that finishes bottom of the Premier League in 2013/14 will receive more than the £60.6m paid out last season to champions Manchester City.
Parachute payments to those sides relegated from the top-flight will also increase, leading to the Championship becoming more and more populated with ex-Premier League sides and making it ever harder for a side to break through from the lower divisions in the manner of the Cobblers in the 1960’s or Wimbledon in the 1980’s unless they have an owner in the manner of Wigan’s Dave Whelan ready to invest a huge sum of money in doing so.
Town remain an ambitious club and have appointed a hugely ambitious manager in Aidy Boothroyd but has the football landscape changed so much that the prospect of even one season in the top-flight is now just a dream?