Setanta dared to take on the giants at Sky, muscling their way into the potentially lucrative Premier League market, writes CHRIS HUDSON.

This week, that ambitious business model came crashing down about their ears as the Irish-based broadcaster went into administration.

Viewers tuned into their channels would have seen their sets go blank at 6pm on Tuesday as the administrators pulled the plug on the UK output.

All the attention in the national media has been on the implications for Setanta’s English and Scottish Premier League contracts, with Walt Disney-owned ESPN already buying up some of the packages on offer.

Yet it is the non-League game where the impact could be felt most keenly, and most painfully.

The broadcaster had ploughed considerable resources into screening Conference football.

Our own AFC Telford United benefited last season when they were shown live in the final of the Setanta Shield (a much-derided competition that really could become the Micky Mouse Cup now, if ESPN bought that one, too).

Teams in Telford’s league – the Blue Square North – and its southern equivalent were each due to receive £15,000 from Setanta, while the ‘big boys’ of the Blue Square Premier were in line for something closer to £85,000 for the season ahead.

To the Manchester Uniteds and Chelseas of this world, that would not be enough to buy Cristiano Ronaldo’s toenail or Petr Cech’s skullcap.

Yet to the smaller fry operating in the relative muck-and-nettles of the non-League game, it could just be the difference between life and death.

The Football League suffered a similar crisis a decade or so ago when the collapse of ITV Digital left several clubs on the brink of extinction.

Telford, thankfully, are well-placed to survive the crisis this time around. Others may not be so lucky.