Uefa's general secretary, David Taylor, has expressed concern about the financial state of some English football clubs, warning that some may risk "serious difficulties" if they continue to over-extend themselves. Highlighting the case of Leeds United, Taylor suggested a number of teams were living beyond their means.
"There are stories concerning some English clubs that are of significant concern," Taylor told BBC Radio 5 Live. "There are a number of English clubs where the value of the club itself has fallen significantly and they are effectively on the market."
"We hope that the clubs themselves will not suffer in any significant way from this but who knows? We've seen what has happened in recent years with a number of very high-profile clubs, Leeds United for example. They fell into serious financial difficulties by over-extending themselves."
Leeds, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League as recently as 2001, but their business model was reliant on television revenue from the competition and when they failed to qualify for the next season's tournament, the decline was rapid. They were forced to sell of a number of key players in a bid to clear debts, were relegated to the Championship in 2004 and forced to sell both their Elland Road stadium and training ground. In 2007 they were relegated again to League One, and went into administration.
"In this current economic environment, I would never say never to anything like that," said Taylor when asked if another team could ever endure a similar collapse. "Clearly we do not see that as imminent but the concern is that we have to establish a stronger financial basis on which clubs can compete."
Taylor said there was also "disquiet" in Uefa over the huge transfer spending of Real Madrid and Manchester City so far this summer. Madrid have so far spend more than £200m to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Alvaro Arbeloa and Raul Albiol, and reportedly hope to add Liverpool's Xabi Alonso before the season begins. City, meanwhile, have spent close to £100m on Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure.
"I would say in this financial climate, it is surprising, a little bit destabilising of the market," said Taylor. "It is certainly raising the ante in terms of the player costs, in terms of the general market place, which is not a thing that gives us a great deal of comfort in these difficult times. There is certainly disquiet in the corridors of power here."