The All Party Parliamentary Football Group has produced 27 recommendations following a year long investigation concerning the recent splurge of top English clubs using “ludicrous levels of borrowing”, then backsiding the profits to pay off a majority of the large debts incurred.

Via Guardian 

While also echoing the agenda of the world governing body, Fifa, by calling for heavy scrutiny of business plans ahead of any club takeovers, the group has also backed Fifa’s “six-plus-five rule” that would impose limits on foreign players, urging the British government to lobby the European Union to overlook its treaties on free movement of labour.

The key warning in the report is that while football appears to be surviving the initial impact of the recession, the meltdown in the markets that has claimed major financial institutions operating risky business models should serve as a warning to the clubs.

“The financial world has learnt a serious lesson in the last year that living by the old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ can lead to catastrophic results,” said the Labour MP Alan Keen, who chaired the inquiry. “There is a real danger that English football could go the same way.

“Corrective action needs to be taken now to address serious weaknesses in the governance of the game as well as severe financial imbalances.

“Lack of proper governance and financial instability are the two fundamental vulnerabilities to the success that English football has enjoyed in recent times.

“Our report includes tough measures to improve the way the game is run and to combat ‘financial doping’ whereby short-term success can be bought at the expense of long-term financial stability.”

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