Could we be on the verge of fundamental change in global and domestic football administration? What effect could this and growing player power have on English clubs and the national team?

'A journey of a thousand miles starts with one small step...' In the last week or so, there may have been several giant steps. Up to recently, the power of sanction in football appeared to rest with the national and global governing bodies, but with at least two of these tiers now in disarray, is that about to change.

Ultimately, it is those who follow football who could hold the real power in the game, simply by voting with their feet and their channel changer. There has been growing distaste at the financial obscenity in football, mainly centred around players' wages. Added to that, fans have a list of dislikes which keep resurfacing, including: feigning injury and cheating in general; owners of clubs who manage through self-interest; the growing gulf between rich and poor; under-performing national sides; inept and inconsistent refereeing and adjudication; to name a few.

Now alleged corruption in football and the apparent ineptness of the FA seem to add to the frustration which may ultimately lead to apathy and rejection.

The antagonism of Villa fans to Steve McClaren's potential appointment - he has since gone to Nottingham Forest - reminds us that towards the end of his reign a growing army of fans were actually wanting England to lose, so that he would be sacked. And recent internationals have hardly caught the nation's imagination, beyond continual pillorying of the waning Fabio Capello.

Fan power is resurgent. Although the green and gold scarves were more scarce at Old Trafford towards the end of the season, anti Glazer protesters managed to muster tens of thousands of supporters to the cause before it emerged that the owners stewardship might actually be good for the club. The transfer window may define this particular debate.

Elsewhere, apart from Villa fans' appeal to Randy Lerner: Hicks and Gillett were driven out of Liverpool; QPR fans berated the owners for the loss of Lakshmi Mittal's influence; Abramovich was attacked for the sacking of Wilkins, the consequent decline, the sacking of Ancelotti and other woes. Arsenal fans are unhappy that despite massive ticket prices at the Emirates and six years of failure, they still wait for marquee signings.

The key to every aspect of English football is now the Premier League. The TV income is over £1bn – this has directly fed preposterous transfer fees and players' wages at odds with a western recession and the impending UEFA wage rules. The Deloitte report puts the worst case scenarios in stark relief.

The Premier League is widely quoted as possibly the best and strongest in the world. It has done an excellent job for clubs and fans alike. And yet it has no real teeth in global football governance. Only last week, Danny Jordaan, the South African FIFA delegate was pleading for the FA to get involved in FIFA in a constructive way. This came after David Bernstein's failure to persuade delegates to suspend the 'vote' for Sepp Blatter.

While English football may seem marginalised and is unlikely to host a World Cup during our lifetime, the growing power of the Premier League and Europe's top clubs may ultimately be the catalysts for lasting change.

FIFA runs football for itself and the the minnows of world football. England weren't the only bidder to suffer humiliating defeat in the appointment of future hosts. And many of the other major footballing nations may not have spent long gloating over England's corpse when they realised the future ramifications for themselves. The country ranked 78th in world football, with a population of 1.4m and summer temperatures up to 50 degrees won an overwhelming vote to host the 2022 Finals.

Meanwhile, by many people's estimation, the Champions League is a bigger competition than even the World Cup in terms of global interest. This could put UEFA in a position of strong future influence in FIFA, which may explain why Michel Platini is Sepp Blatter's projected successor.

But what might happen if the world wakes up to commercial and fan power? In English football it seems ludicrous that the FA, an organisation dominated by amateur football, is the rules and disciplinary body for the  Premier League. No less nonsensical than Sepp Blatter being able to prevent goal line technology and other innovations all the way down through UEFA to weekly football matches.

We can't be alone in feelings of growing disdain for FIFA, but declining respect for footballing authority may be manifesting itself in other ways. A growing number of footballers no longer want to play for England. This trend has escalated under Fabio Capello's management – yet another failed FA appointment. Club football is far more popular than national football.

In addition, rumours continue that, following the lead of the top clubs in England in establishing the Premier League, leading European clubs would like to establish a 'super League', outside the jurisdiction of UEFA. If such a move extended to world club football, how soon would FIFA and UEFA start to appear an irrelevance to what fans, commercial sponsors and owners really wanted?

At the end of the day, money drives everything in football, from the failure of Portsmouth and Leeds, to the success of City and United, or corruption at any level of the game. And the ultimate source of that money is the fans – whether TV or ticket.

Football governance is on a slippery slope, on the one hand trying to tell clubs how to manage their finances and on the other unable to manage its own in a manner appropriate to the best traditions of the game. It certainly wasn't Sky or commercialism that drove 300,000 people to seek access to Wembley for the 1923 FA Cup Final.

Sepp Blatter may resist change; Michel Platini may be ambitious; the FA may be an empty vessel on the world stage for many years; but fans are angry and frustrated and one day it will be their economic and sporting decisions that decide the way of football, not regulators or owners. Change is under way that could see global football very different in ten years' time. And club football is likely to thrive at the expense of our national footballing aspirations.

What do you think? Have your say.

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