Republic of Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella looks set to miss next month's crucial World Cup qualifier against Holland at Lansdowne Road after learning he must have surgery for a hernia.
The 28-year-old Charlton player had already missed much of his club's pre-season build-up because of what was believed to have been a pulled stomach muscle.
But after Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Gillingham, Charlton manager Alan Curbishley confirmed that the Irishman's problem has been diagnosed as being a hernia and that he will have the required operation tomorrow.
The recovery time from the surgery involved is normally about six weeks which rules Kinsella out, not only of the Croatia game but, almost certainly of the Holland match too.
The news will come as a blow to Mick McCarthy but it will almost certainly mean a rare competitive start for Matt Holland in Ireland's central midfield with McCarthy having repeatedly stated in the past that the Ipswich player's performances in the past had convinced him he was an able replacement for either Kinsella or Roy Keane if one was ever required.
The Premiership season kicks off on August 18th, but for the country's top clubs the quest for glory also marks the start of an uncertain period in which technological changes will have a massive impact on the financial future of the game.
This season marks a high point for TV revenue, with the 20 Premiership clubs sharing an incredible £1.6 billion sterling over the next three years.
The lucrative TV deal signed last year between the Premiership and BSkyB and ITV was a landmark in the relationship between football and television. In 1989, ITV negotiated a £14 million four-year deal for exclusive live-match coverage. In 1992, Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB revolutionised the game, paying £218 million for a five-year deal with the Premiership. This increased to 743 million in 1997 when BSkyB signed a new four-year deal.
The huge hikes of the past decade are now coming to an end. "The massive increases in television deals that we saw in the past will not be repeated," said Ed Shed of consultants Arthur Andersen, which recently produced a report on media rights. "The way rights are sold has changed because there is less exclusivity. Football is now available on more channels, and the monopoly that existed before with Sky is no longer there."
The biggest challenge facing the country's leading clubs over the next three years is how to cash in on the advances in new technology such as the internet, third-generation mobile telephones and digital TV. Football on TV, with one channel showing live matches and another showing highlights, will change significantly over the next few years.
"With the development of new technologies, the ground is shifting and new revenue streams are emerging," said Arthur Andersen's report, The Changing Nature of Sports Rights. "The potential ways in which content can be exploited are numerous. The advent of digital technologies has hugely increased the range of content that can be carried. In the future, broadband technologies will enable the transmission of even larger packets of information. Mobile and internet technologies also add new dimensions."
This is good news for big clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, which are already making significant advances in the Far East and believe they will be able to generate revenue by showing their matches on the internet or via mobile phones. But where does it leave the country's smaller and medium-sized clubs?
The current system of having a collective TV deal where money is pooled and distributed to all the clubs in the league is unlikely to change. All those involved in the game, including the bigger clubs, believe this is essential to maintaining competition, which in turn ensures interest in the Premiership and football down the divisions.
