MANY York City fans will have passed an idle moment imagining what it would be like if their club were in the Premier League. Oh, the joy of being able to chant "Are you Scarborough in disguise?" at Manchester United's preening prissies once a season, rather than once a lifetime.

This is fantasy football, of course. City should find a stadium before moving in on the Premier League.

Frankly, I hope they never get anywhere near the top flight, aside from the occasional giant-killing cup foray. Because York City would be better off homeless than housed in a league which most sewer rats would find distasteful.

The lament "what has happened to our national game?" has been repeated for 30 years. But these days, it is directed at an unpleasant minority of the players, rather than an unpleasant minority of the fans.

There is a hooligan element among the millionaires who stroll around Premier League pitches every Saturday. Take former Leeds United footballers Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer. Two years ago both players were on a night out which ended in an horrific assault on an Asian student.

Woodgate was convicted of affray. Bowyer was acquitted but branded a liar by the judge. They should have been drummed out of football. Both are still earning a fortune, at Newcastle United, where they play alongside Craig Bellamy, convicted yesterday of threatening behaviour outside a nightclub.

Now we learn of the appalling attitude of some young football stars towards women. This is not about the rape allegation linked to eight players, or the Leeds United player being questioned over sexual assault claims. Police are investigating both incidents.

It is about "roasting". Turns out that this is the term for the not unusual practise of a group of footballers "sharing" the same girl, supposedly with her (star-struck) consent. Roasting is right. The girl is the meat.

Perhaps we should thank the bosses of the Premier League for conducting a valid social experiment. They have proved that if you throw an obscene amount of money at barely educated young men, worship them like gods, give them endless free time, allow them to become the target for hangers-on, con men and groupies, and offer them little social support, some will descend into drunken savagery.

This week the Football Association tried to claw back some moral high ground by preventing Rio Ferdinand from playing for England against Turkey on Saturday. His crime? He forgot to take a random drugs test, then took it and passed 36 hours later.

In this case, FA bosses have punished Ferdinand prior to a formal inquiry. Suddenly it's guilty until proven innocent.

As we learnt when the association did nothing to help York City over the ownership of Bootham Crescent, this governing body is worth sweet FA. The fat cats that run it are interested only in keeping the cash coming.

And money is the root of all football evil. Premier League giants are a breeding ground for violence on and off the field. Meanwhile City, with hardly enough shillings for the floodlight leccy meter, has become a community club run by and for the fans.

In York it is all about the game, about sportsmanship, about pride. City is a football family.

I hope that is still true when my son is old enough to watch the Minstermen with me. I hope that is still true when I qualify for a pensioner discount. Play up, City, but stay down at the grassroots.

Updated: 11:09 Wednesday, October 08, 2003