The Nation is on tenterhooks. After three successive terms at the top, the red domination looks like it may be overtaken by the blues. The reds' tough-talking old-timer Scottish boss may finally have met his match in the blues' sharp-suited younger pretender – who is taking his first crack at the big prize.

The balance of power may shift from the reds' northern heartland to the blues' power base in the south east. And apparently there is an election on as well.

Though as a football supporter you'd be forgiven for not noticing. On two of three occasions the main party leaders are due to hold their much-hyped televised debates, they will be battling for ratings with Europa League semi finals featuring English teams.

Politicians never really were that bothered about the football-going classes.

The main winner at the polls on May 6 will be apathy, but there is an issue at the heart of this year's General Election that every football fan should be concerned about – the 50p tax band.

The Labour Government has introduced a tax of 50% on all earnings over £150,000 per year. It certainly won't trouble me; and I'm guessing it probably won't affect you that much either.

But with some footballers earning that much in a week, it doesn't take long to work out the implications.
Imagine you are Lionel Messi, and peer through that floppy fringe at news of this development.

Now consider that Manchester City are desperate to get you ensconced in a mock-Tudor mansion in Carington. £100m worth of desperate that Barcelona could use to build a new Gaudi facade to the Camp Nou.

Fancy it? No you don't. Because in Britain, regardless of what the City sheikhs want to pay you, half of most of the cash you earn will end up funding schools and hospitals you will probably never use. And any City salary will be paid in a bizarre Monopoly money called sterling, which is worth slightly less than Green Shield stamps.

As the 50p tax bites, more and more foreign stars will start deciding that the Premier League is not the place for them. And, as a result, more and more young English stars will start to find that the top clubs in this country – the Blues and Reds – want to invest their cash in home-grown talent.

Imagine a Premier League without Zola, Cantona or Bergkamp – sad. Now imagine kids from Staines, Chorlton and Hackney who have always been able to play like those greats, and have now been given the opportunity to do so.

All of a sudden a deeper pool of classy players experienced in top-end football for the England manager to pick; and a better England team. There was a 50p tax (and much higher too) in 1966 – the Beatles even wrote a song about it – and you know what happened that year.

Every major party canvassing for your votes at the general election thinks the 50p tax is a good idea – except one. So if you want an England team with all the potential to win World Cups again, the answer is simple – when it comes to the ballot box, don't support the blues.