FOOTBALL clubs in the region have added their voices to concern over European Union plans to outlaw the sport's transfer system.

FIFA yesterday asked for more time to find a solution to the claim that payment of fees for players still under contract contravenes freedom of movement.

The body has until September 20 to propose an alternative to the present system proposed by the EC. And FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted transfer fees for players aged over 24 are almost certainly a thing of the past.

Bosses at Darlington, Hartlepool United and York City feel transfers are the lifeblood of teams at their level, as they farm young players and sell them on to bigger clubs.

It is also feared they will be unable to hold on to players, as the only way to do so would be to offer huge wages and bonuses, such as those at Premiership clubs.

At FIFA, a consensus has been agreed forbidding international transfers of players aged under 18, along with a compensation package for the movement of players under 24.

It would appear that over that age players will be asked to sign one-year contracts, with just one time of year when players can move clubs.

Darlington FC PR director Luke Raine said it was uncertain as to how badly it would affect smaller clubs. But he said repercussions would not just be felt by clubs in Division Three, but those right up to Division One could be affected.

"There will be repercussions all round to some degree. The Bosman rule changed a lot of things.

"Invariably it's the lower clubs that will bear the brunt of it," he said.

The Quakers made just under £1m from four sales alone in the last year, discounting an undisclosed fee Northampton paid for striker Marco Gabbiadini.

"That's survival for a lot of clubs, it's probably a year's working capital for little clubs," said Mr Raine.

A spokesman for Hartlepool, which went without a major sale last season, despite a £600,000 offer for midfielder Tommy Miller, said: "Clubs like us have to sell to survive.

"A relatively high percentage of their income will come from selling. We would have to find other ways to survive. The transfer system is a way of money percolating down from bigger clubs.

"Since the Bosman ruling, it's happening less and less anyway."

He added: "We certainly don't offer silly wages to people, so there is even less attraction for a player coming to a third division club."

York City's assistant manager Adrian Shaw said the £1m-plus the club scooped in player sales last year was the major factor in its season's profits.

Key to that was the £900,000 sale of Richard Cresswell to then-Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday.

"I think for ourselves, the small clubs who produce their own players, a lot of our income and the reasons why we keep going is because we produce our own players and sell them on," he said.

"This could be devastating to small clubs.

"We invest wholly in youth and it's got to come to a stage where we say to ourselves, 'should we carry on investing in youth because we can't sell on now'.