LESS wealthy soccer clubs will be hit hard by their inability to sell players outside the summer and winter transfer windows.

News that English clubs will only be able to conduct deals in January and during the summer break is being hailed as a handy weapon in the war to halt spiralling transfer fees.

But it will not help the smaller clubs who need to sell to survive.

It is a fact of life that clubs in the lower divisions often have to sell their best player for a five or six figure fee just to keep the bank manager off their back - and bank managers don't only demand repayment of loans in the summer and January.

Life is tough enough as it is for these clubs without having their major means of survival taken away from them for nine months of the year.