FA Chair Triesman Threatens To Enforce Salary Cap On EPL Clubs

FA Chair Lord David Triesman yesterday at the Leaders in Football conference in London "threatened to enforce a salary cap" on English Premier League (EPL) clubs as part of a "wide-ranging and often damning address on the game's finances," according to Matt Scott of the Manchester GUARDIAN. Triesman "attacked an industry that he said had run up [US$5.3B] of debt, speaking of the 'very tangible dangers' for the game at a time of much uncertainty in global finance." Triesman: "A sensible form of (wage) restraint would make sense and it is not inconceivable. It's very hard to do anything unless all parties want to do it and everyone needs to want to do it. Preferably without being compelled." Triesman's proposals put the FA "squarely at odds" with the EPL, particularly his "ambitions for the [FA] to become the English game's regulator" (Manchester GUARDIAN, 10/8). In London, Paul Kelso reports Triesman "made it clear that his aim is to rein in the perceived excesses of the Premier League and re-establish the FA as the prime regulators of English football, even floating the possibility of legislation to bind their primacy in law." Triesman indicated that the EPL is "too rich, too lightly regulated, too indebted, insufficiently competitive, produces too few English-qualified players and is disrespectful of the fans and communities who sustain the brands on which the new club owners so lucratively trade" (London TELEGRAPH, 10/8). EPL CEO Richard Scudamore spoke after Triesman yesterday afternoon at the conference and insisted that clubs "recognised they were not immune to the debt crisis but they were managing it responsibly." Scudamore: "I do not want to adopt [UEFA President Michel] Platini's view that debt is bad, debt is inevitable. Debt to a degree is healthy. What is important is that your level of indebtedness is proportionate to your income" (London INDEPENDENT, 10/8).

STAYING FIT: In London, Kevin Eason reports Triesman "wants a stiffening of the so-called fit and proper persons test" that outgoing EPL club Manchester City Owner Thaksin Shinawatra "passed when he bought" the club in July '07. FIFA President Sepp Blatter also was "scathing in his criticism of the test," which is designed to "weed out unsuitable owners" (LONDON TIMES, 10/8). Meanwhile, in Manchester, David Conn cites sources who said Thaksin "doubled his money in just over a year by making a [US$35.1M] profit when he sold the club" to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan last month. The final price of the sale "remained close" to the reported US$368.5M (Manchester GUARDIAN, 10/8).