The latest publication of the highest annual wage earners in Britain will stick in the throat of every Albion supporter around the globe.

At number six with 12 month earnings of £73.83million is a certain Mr William Archer.

It's quite ironic that just above Archer in the chart at number five is Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

As anyone who has ever come into contact with Archer will testify when it comes to Albion he's been prone to a few fairy stories down the years.

The Albion romantic inside me always thought they would never knock the Goldstone down and that same part of me hopes one day that Archer will find a shred of decency inside him and actually return significant funds to the club as a goodwill gesture.

But then again thoughts like that put me into the realms of fantasy that have made Ms Rowling the richest woman in the land.

With all due respect to the emerging nations, most people will admit that the Rugby World Cup actually begins this weekend with the start of the knockout stages.

The big three from the southern hemisphere and the original Five Nations make up the last eight. The pool games have been good for the sport because the new nations have had the chance to lock horns with the big guns. But, unlike the football World Cup, you could have almost predicted the last eight before the first scrum down.

There is no doubt that this is England's best chance to win the trophy since they hosted the final at Twickenham back in 1991. But I just get the feeling that this wave of euphoria is bordering on over confidence, even arrogance.

Sport is littered with giant killings and unlikely victories. England will have to win this competition, it won't just be handed to them. But listening to a number of their supporters you would have thought the Webb Ellis Trophy was already packed in the hold waiting to travel back to Heathrow.

That's very dangerous attitude whichever way you look at it.

Last month it was allegations of rape and now November has kicked off with tabloid tales of a cocaine scandal.

Off the field football is really going through the mire and whether or not Leon Jeanne's revelations in the Sun will ultimately hit England's chances in Euro 2004 remains to be seen.

But has the big money in the game made it become the architect of its own misfortune?

Football has always been a relatively lucrative career but, with the advent of the Premiership, it has been like letting some of the younger players through the front door of Fort Knox.

The majority of professionals are level headed people, but in some cases the big clubs take lads from a disadvantaged background. These boys have been gifted in the sport from an early age but in the ways of the world they are very naive.

In time the club pays the player obscene amounts of money. I've said before that I don't begrudge the players one penny if club chairmen and their boards are stupid enough to pay these sums out.

But it's still the same boy from the same place, be it a one-parent family or a council estate. Yet almost overnight he's expected to cope with fame and fortune.

These young lads have almost instant access to anything they want: girls, booze and, in this day and age, drugs. Yet the football authorities and society in general expect them all to behave like Little Lord Fauntleroy.

It doesn't work like that, but if the clubs started looking after their players properly off the field it would certainly make a difference.

Sir Alex Ferguson has the right idea. In his 17 years some have transgressed, but not many of his players have crossed the line off the field.