LONDON - The English Premier League, under pressure from
football's authorities and the British government, plans to bolster
its financial regulations, notably toughening rules on who can own
or invest in a club.
The proposals are in response to a request from British Sports
Minister Andy Burnham to the high profile league and the Football
Association for plans to curb debt and increase financial
transparency as the game comes to terms with the worst economic
slump in nearly 80 years.
English clubs have amassed debts of around three billion pounds
with nearly a third of that owed by the top four, Manchester
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, sparking criticism from
lawmakers and politicians.
The proposals announced by Premier League chief executive Richard
Scudamore on Monday, include:
- an independent audit of club accounts to determine whether a
club is a "going concern", in other words financially viable.
- an annual requirement to demonstrate that the club does not
have outstanding debts to other clubs, in income tax or National
Insurance payments.
- improve ownership rules such as requiring disclosure of any
interest in a club above 10 percent and an extension of the rule
whereby conviction for certain offences leads to ineligibility for
directorship.
- the range of these offences will be widened and would exclude
persons who have been sentenced to at least a year in prison or
convicted of a so-called dishonesty such as fraud, ticket touting
or hooliganism.
"These regulations go above and beyond the laws of the land,"
Scudamore told a panel of reporters.
"Clubs have bought into this and I am confident we can have
further progress in the future. These rules will help to steer us
through what could be choppy waters."
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday debt-laden Premier
League clubs could be hardest hit by the global credit crunch,
while Michel Platini, head of European football body UEFA, said the
game was ready to financially implode.
"Clubs are smarter and more in tune than some of the rhetoric we
have heard," Scudamore said.
"The professionalism of clubs, such as their accountants and
lawyers, has never been better. We have not shied away from our
responsibilities."
Scudamore said the new guidelines, if approved by the league's
20 clubs, should come into force for the start of next season.
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