Ownership rules concern FA chief

Manchester City is the latest club to be taken over by foreign investors

The rules governing the financing and ownership of football clubs are "inadequate", according to Football Association chairman Lord Triesman.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham has already warned the FA that tighter rules on foreign ownership are needed.

"We all want clubs in the best hands," Triesman told the Daily Telegraph.

"Football has a tier of regulation beyond company law or stock market regulation but I'm not sure that existing framework is adequate."

The debate has been stimulated by a host of foreign buy-outs in British football over recent years, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Portsmouth all now in the hands of overseas owners.

In the latest high-profile takeover, Arab company Abu Dhabi United Group bought a majority stake in Manchester City at the start of September.

MIHIR BOSE BLOG Owning a football club used to be a matter of local prestige rather than banking money in an offshore account BBC sports editor Mihir Bose

Burnham outlined his views in a speech in Westminster on Thursday and expressed concerns that a club's place in the community must be preserved.

"The game needs to reassess its relationship with money," Burnham told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"If the game continues along the same path for the next 10 years it risks losing touch with traditional support.

"This is not an attack on foreign ownership.

"It doesn't matter what nationality they are, what matters is their intentions for the club they seek to take over and whether or not they have the game's wider interest at heart.

"It's not wrong that people should make money out of football, but it should be done in such a way that promotes the interests of the game."

He added: "Does there need to be a single fit and and proper persons test applied before someone takes over, rather then retrospectively as it is now?

The best club owners do not want a game simply played by foreigners that just happens to be played in England Football Association chairman Lord Triesman

"Does there need to be a greater level of scrutiny about how the takeover is going to happen? We need to ask 'is this takeover in the best interests of the club and of football in general?'.

"It is right for me to say 'come on FA, step up to the plate'. My worry is if we don't ask these awkward questions it will be too late and something very precious will have been lost."

Triesman echoed Burnham's concerns about the need to protect the integrity and domestic grassroots development of the game.

He added: "We want those who run our clubs to do so in the long-term interests of their financial health and sporting success rather than immediate return on investment.

"The FA must make good our responsibility for coaching to improve the quality of home-grown youngsters. Clubs share this responsibility.

"The best club owners get it. They have bought into something special and don't want to destroy it."

But the Premier League claim they have unsuccessfully sought discussions with Burnham about the issues he has raised.

A Premier League statement read: "It is the government that sets the laws as to who can and can't buy UK companies, whether utilities, airports, banks or football clubs.

"So far they have presided over an extremely liberal economy that encourages the free flow of foreign capital into this country.

"We have endeavoured to discuss with Mr Burnham the issues he raises and the concerns he has...but as yet have not been afforded the opportunity.

"Instead, as politicians tend to do, he has sought publicity rather than meaningful policy discussion."