Blog: The staggering fees paid out in the Premier League only serve to highlight the problems at the other end of the game, writes Alex James.

Has football gone mad?

First Liverpool break the British transfer record to sign Andy Carroll for £36 million – a young relatively unproven striker who has played only a handful of top flight games and is currently injured.

Then Chelsea top that and sign a striker who has scored nine Premier League goals this season. That’s only one more than Blackpool’s DJ Campbell (who cost £1.2million in the summer) who seems to have made the treatment table his second home, and Fernando Torres at £50 million.

And when you throw in David Luiz and Luis Suarez moving for a combined £44 million yesterday, Darren Bent’s £18million move to Aston Villa, and Edin Dzeko signing for Manchester City for £27 million, it means English clubs spent more than £200 million on players in 31 days.

Last year they spent £29 million. The transfer merry-go-round was certainly in full swing.

And with a new set of rules and regulations coming in from 2012 which ban any sides from playing in Europe if they make a loss owing to football reasons, such as transfer fees, it seems that the Premier League giants are making one last ditch attempt to impose their power on the rest of the world.

They have thrown the notes around like confetti  – and what do we see in the lower leagues? A host of loans and free transfers.

Shrewsbury were one of relatively few sides in the bottom two divisions to actually part with some cash when they signed Nicky Wroe from Torquay United.

But the gulf between the Shrewsburys and the Chelseas is only going to increase until something is done about it.

It was noticeable yesterday that the likes of Wolves, West Ham and Birmingham – clubs in danger of being relegated – didn’t press the panic button and spend some cash on new players.

And why would they? The parachute payments for relegated clubs from the Premier League are so great that even going down isn’t a problem financially. £48 million over four years – a nice little earner if you ask me.

All that adds up to is an elite group of 30 teams who are living off Premier League riches while the rest are left to fend for themselves.

And if a lower league club has the cheek to produce a home grown player good enough for the top – take Joe Hart for example – than it’s only a matter of time before one of the big guns swoops, offers a fraction of what the player is worth because the club needs the cash, tempts him with a mega wage increase and signs him up.

Until the powers that be bother to offer some financial help to those struggling at the wrong end of the Football League – either with a higher percentage of TV money or a percentage of club earnings – then the depressing circle of clubs coming close to closure will continue.

Forget the merry-go-round or the circle of life, Chelsea and Torres are contributing to the circle of death.