On the same day as transfer deadline day when Marouane Fellaini completed a £27.5million move to Manchester United, while Gareth Bale was still reveling in the world transfer record fee that had been broken just 24 hours earlier, 141 years of football history was destroyed by the modern game.

Sadly, Kettering Town FC were wound up on Sunday for failing to pay £58,000 in rent. Some of you may not be aware of the story because of modern soccer’s fascination with glorifying and idolizing footballers earning ludicrous wages and copywriting goal celebrations, but the club did fold — which went unnoticed by many.

Gareth Bale is allegedly earning 56p per second. Before you rub your eyes to check, that isn’t a typo, Bale’s contract at Real Madrid will bag him £15.6million a year. Seriously, what is going on with the game we love?! To put it another way, the £58,000 owed by Kettering Town F.C. could be paid by Mr Bale every 28.7 hours — it’s simply obscene. Is it not time to put a stop to this circus that is destroying clubs up and down England every season?

Kettering Town F.C., who were in the Conference Premier just two years ago, have now closed their business. The most important people in football, the fans, have lost a club they love due to serious negligence. The beautiful game, as it was once known, has turned very ugly. When I turned my television on on Sunday evening, I wasn’t informed once about Kettering’s demise. Instead I was greeted with vast sums of money flying across my screen, reporters up and down the country speculating on who would spend the most on Transfer Deadline Day. Is this really what the game has come too?

Sadly the days of players mingling with the fans in the pub after the game are long gone. It’s becoming more obvious that the roots of football, the real teams, the ones who actually care about the F.A.Cup, the teams without corporate sponsors splashed all over their stadiums, the teams who provide proper entertainment and provide the only link left with old fashioned football, are being totally destroyed by the business side of football. A crowd of 60,071 saw Arsenal and Tottenham lock horns on Saturday. Little did the fans know that if they had donated 97p each, Kettering would still have a football club.

It is becoming apparent that we, the real fans, are being ignored. No one seems to be listening to what we want. No one cares about grassroots football because apparently it is more important for me to be informed that Gareth Bale’s new boots have arrived at the Real Madrid training ground.

It may now be too late to do anything to save this sad state of affairs, but I would ask that if you are a real football fan, remember where you idols come from. They come from youth teams up and down England, and non league teams, just like Kettering.

If you have a minute to spare, please donate as generously as you can to help save Kettering Town F.C. a proper club with 141 years of history. We as fans need to draw as much attention as possible to what is happening to our clubs. Save the game we love, save our morals, save the beautiful game, save Kettering Town.

Editor’s note: A donation page has been established to try to raise £20,000 to save Kettering Town. Please make a pledge today to save a club with a rich history.