Glasgow Rangers’ cataclysmic fall into administration is a stark reminder to football clubs inside and outside the Scottish Football Association that even a successful football club, if placed in dubiously fitting hands, can be hit by financial catastrophe. Largely, football has bucked the trend in echoing the general economic problems of the world. As the economic woes of Greece, Portugal and Ireland began to threaten the stability of the financial sphere, football responded with the lavish purchases of Fernando Torres and  Cristiano Ronaldo – even Andy Carrol.

The Premier League has carried on wheeling and dealing as though the hardships were a chimera, mirroring the Chinese economy’s shrug of the shoulders.

So if Premier League teams were countries, how would they match up economically? Could they bail out Greece? Despite having the financial muscle to pay over the odds for some guy to kick a leather bag around a field, it seems unlikely. Very unlikely.

Sorry Greece. We’re out of ideas.