The football world was stunned this week when Abu Dhabi United, a Middle East consortium of billionaires, bought Manchester City, automatically making it the richest club on the planet.

It was the latest in a string of billionaire takeovers of English Premier League clubs but Mr Cardoza said he was not convinced the huge amounts of money were in the best interests of the game.

He said: "I was a bit gobsmacked when I heard about the Manchester City takeover and in the short term it is pretty good news for their fans.

"But the clubs with all the money can now afford to look around elsewhere instead of buying English players or from lower leagues.

"Plus now you are going to get something like 12 Premier League clubs all wanting to win the Champions League and that can't happen."

Mr Cardoza also said the role of the owner should not be to interfere with team affairs, as has apparently happened at Liverpool, West Ham United and other Premiership teams.

He said: "It does sound a bit romantic for everyone to still have a chairman who just signs cheques.

"But the manager has to manage and you can't just have players sold without him knowing.

"Here the manager just gets on with it. He comes to me and says he wants a player and I can say yes or no. That's the way it should be. "

But he warned that fans like those of Manchester City should not get too excited with their new-found wealth.

He said: "Money doesn't necessarily guarantee success and that has been proved before.

"The Cobblers have bought players in the past for a lot of money and they haven't done so well but many cheaper players have been successful.

"It really comes down to how good the manager is with those players.

"We are fortunate to have a very good manager which has allowed us to punch above our weight."

Fellow director Tony Clarke was even more critical, saying that money pumped in at the top should be shared more equally among football league teams.

"The financial gap between us and them is getting wider and wider.

"If football is not careful and the greed at the top is not contained, then football will eat itself."