Blatter hits out at Premier League debt

April 1 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) has criticised the amount of debt in the Premier League although he ruled out the introduction of a salary cap as a way of preventing more clubs entering administration.

Blatter is concerned at the plight of Portsmouth, who recently went into administration and are facing relegation to the Championship after receiving a nine-point penalty, and blamed high player wages for the problems of others, including Manchester United.

He told CNN International: “I think something is wrong here with the Premier League.

“To let a club go into administration, this is not good.

“They have two clubs in the Premier League who are not in debt.

“Why, because they have two sponsors and they have taken away the debt.

“These clubs are Chelsea and Manchester City.

“And all the others even the big Manchester [United], the big Manchester I think they are just able to pay the interest of their debt but there are clubs that are not even able to pay the interest of their debt.

“This is not correct, this is not good.

“And these clubs, why are they in debt?

“Because they pay too high salaries to their players, they spend more money than they have.

“In any family in the world you cannot do that, in any company you cannot do that.

“And why in football it is possible because they do not have different laws.”

Blatter claims his own organisation is powerless to intervene and called on national associations to address the issue.

He said: “This is not a question where FIFA can intervene because it is economy, it is the responsibility of the national association members in FIFA to make sure their clubs are in good order.

“In France it is a Governmental decree that they have there.

“In Germany 51 per cent ownership of the club must be German, in Spain most of the clubs belong to the fans.”