Just promoting trouble

As it happens, he was talking about Birmingham City, but he could just as easily have been talking about Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading, Bristol City, Preston North End, Leicester City, Burton Albion or, come to that, Tamworth.
It's a problem of which many fans are becoming increasingly aware as money strengthens its' grip on football - do we want to win promotion in a blaze of glory in late-May, knowing that November will see us in a relegation battle because we can't afford the thousands or millions of pounds required to be competitive at the higher level?
I suspect Blues and Wolves fans already know the answer, given that the recession can only have worsened their backers' financial position since their last brief shining moment of glory. The thought of Bristol or Preston in the Premier League isn't a pretty one while Reading have, of course, also been there, done it and failed.
The mighty Lambs, meanwhile, are a point behind Blue Square North leaders Gateshead with two games in hand. After a disappointing campaign last season, it's been a bit of a shock to Tamworth's fans but it's been achieved with a young squad who, most people agree, would struggle in the money-dominated BS Premier.
Indeed, when one regular contributor to the fans' forum at www.tamworthfans.co.uk tried last month to start a topic entitled "Who would you keep next season if we go up?", he was quickly slapped down by those saying 'two or three, at most.'
That's not a satisfying way to watch football, in my opinion. After winning promotion from the West Midlands League in the early-90s, Tamworth spent several years in the Midland Division of the Southern League, building a base on and off the field before being in a position to challenge for promotion to the Premier Division and ultimately, the Conference.
And I enjoyed those years, far more than I enjoyed their four years of toil in the lower reaches of the Conference. They were competitive in more seasons than not, the club was never put in financial jeopardy by chasing a pointless dream and while the football wasn't great, at least relegation was rarely on the horizon.
Is that a better way than being a yo-yo club? Up one season and down the next, experiencing wildly differing emotions as the seasons change, hoping against hope that this season will be the one; that this businessman will be the one whose money finally pushes us up over the top so that we stay on the right side of the fence?
I'm not saying I don't want Blues/Wolves/Burton/Tamworth to go up (although I would appreciate it if the Lambs could end the suspense quickly - the potentially crucial last match of the season at AFC Telford clashes with a friend's wedding day), but that promotion in football's cash-driven world can bring more trouble than it's worth.
I guess what I am saying is this - Is it sometimes better to be a Walsall fan? And is that why the Saddlers' are the second-favourite club of every football fan in the West Midlands?