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FA chairman Triesman warns of £3 billion debt

07/10/2008

Football Association Chairman Lord Triesman warned that England's clubs could be as much as £3 billion in debt and may be in severe danger of being affected by the global credit crunch.

In a speech at the Leaders in Football conference at Stamford Bridge Lord Triesman said that a review into who owns English clubs is also inevitable.

"The best estimate I could get in the City yesterday was that debts in English football as a whole have probably edged to the £3,000m mark," Lord Treisman said.

He also said that in 2006-07 the Deloitte group identified more than £950m of debt in the top four clubs alone.

The news came on the day when there are fears that West Ham could face financial difficulties after banking difficulties in Iceland, the home of their owners.

"Transparency lies in an unmarked grave," Lord Triesman 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. They are the abiding passion of their supporters. We forget that at our peril."