FA chief reveals €3.8bn club debt fears

THE Football Association and Premier League have clashed over the financial well-being of English football as fresh evidence emerged of the game’s growing debt.

Speaking at the Leaders in Football conference at Stamford Bridge, FA chairman Lord Triesman and Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore voiced opposing views on the dangers of foreign ownership — one of the sport’s most contentious is sues — and whether the rules needed tightening up.

Revealing English clubs currently owe an estimated £3billion (€3.8bn), Lord Triesman said this posed a “terrible danger” in the current global climate.

“Transparency lies in an unmarked grave,” Lord Triesman said. “We now have a position where it is very hard to track things. It is not transparent enough and we don’t know if the debt is held by people who are financially secure or not.”

Reacting to FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s outburst that buying a football club was now just as easy as buying a replica shirt, Triesman said he had a point.

“It is certainly true that fans are apprehensive if their club is touted around in the market place. You can’t have a complete disregard for people’s passion for their club.”

Without mentioning any club by name Triesman said the Premier League’s fit and proper persons test needed an urgent review.

“If there is a prima facie case of someone’s human rights record being regarded internationally as being very serious, it’s reasonable to question whether that person should be running a football club,” he said.

“Nobody has real confidence in what they cannot see. The fit and proper persons test does not do the job sufficiently robustly. A review is now inevitable because football clubs are not mere commodities.”

Speaking later at the same conference, and with Triesman sitting a few feet away, Scudamore defended the clubs’ financial affairs.

“The FA themselves know about all these things because they are one of the most indebted organisations in the world,” Scudamore said.

“Our clubs are all heavily regulated but they’ve also got directors and owners who will assess the level of risk of their overall debt. This is at the top of clubs’ agendas and I think they are managing it responsibly.”