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by **Reg** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:08 am

How will we look back on this article in 12 months??
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October 8, 2008

Football £3 billion in debt, warns Lord Triesman

The stage was set for the two figureheads of English football to reveal the plan that could rescue the game from an ocean of debt, but, in the end, they could barely agree it was Tuesday, never mind who would throw the lifebelts.

While Lord Triesman, the chairman of the FA, delivered the grave news that City analysts had told him that football owed a collective £3billion, Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, shrugged his shoulders and announced that there was nothing wrong with debt.

It was a stark contrast in views that bemused delegates at the Leaders in Football summit yesterday, appropriately held at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea and one of the clubs who have prospered on finances fuelled by credit and the largesse of a billionaire owner.

At the heart of the debate was the hint of a power struggle between the FA and the Premier League, with Triesman calling on the Government to implement a new Sports Law to regulate who governs what in football. “At the moment, we cannot define where the buck stops on too many issues,” he said. For Scudamore, the present system works well.

As news filtered through that the banking interests of West Ham United's Icelandic owners were deep in trouble, Triesman announced that he wanted an urgent review into football's finances. At the same time as debts were mounting, wage bills in the Barclays Premier League were rising by 12 per cent a year - a pace that Triesman doubted could be sustained.

“The owners break the debt up as a matter of policy into small packages,” he said. “They mix it with other debts, some of it fine, some of it toxic, and sell it on. I believe this poses us with a tangible danger. Not only is debt at high risk levels, but also in a period where transparency lies in an unmarked grave.

“There is no point in thinking that this affects everybody in the world except football. Indeed, further down the pyramid more and more clubs are in trouble and a number of owners leave abruptly and either seek repayment of debt owing to them as directors or they consider selling the ground.”

Triesman wants a stiffening of the so-called fit and proper persons test that Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed Prime Minister of Thailand, passed when he bought Manchester City in July last year. Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, was scathing in his criticism of the test, designed to weed out unsuitable owners, and of Thaksin, accusing him of selling one of England's most historic clubs “like selling a shirt”.

Like Blatter, Triesman is increasingly worried by the influx of foreign owners and the erosion of the numbers of English players in the Premier League. Scudamore, though, appears to believe that Blatter and Triesman are making a drama out of a world financial crisis. He defended the level of debt in the Premier League - estimated at £2.5billion - because it was balanced against record income and the astonishing level of popularity of English football across the world.

“The 92 clubs of today are very similar to the 92 of yesteryear,” he said. “They are very sustainable brands. Part of our success is our openness. That is the bedrock of our success. We cannot be doing it all wrong.”

Fears that television income, which has fuelled football's boom, could dry up as the credit crunch hits advertising revenues, were also dismissed. Scudamore believes that increasing demand from overseas markets could offset any drops in income at home.

So, crisis or business as usual? No agreement yesterday, but Triesman will use his considerable diplomatic skills to force a debate on the future of a sport awash with cash but sinking in debt.

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Football £3 billion in debt

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