Debt has the game in its deadly grip

HAD to check for a blue moon in the sky when I found myself agreeing with Michel Platini this week.

Since succeeding Lennart Johansson as UEFA president, the French icon has been a huge disappointment.

His reorganisation of the Champions League was too little, too late, his opposition to goal-line technology plain crazy and his pandering to Sepp Blatter so sad to watch.

But if Platini is successful in his latest mission he might just save this great game from implosion.

The former France midfielder has declared war on the biggest threat facing football today - debt. He's calling time on egotistical club owners who gamble the hopes and dreams of fans like punters in the casino. Not before time.

If you doubt the seriousness of the situation keep an eye on Fiorentina's result against Lyon later this month.

Should the Italians win that Champions League tie it will send Liverpool out of the competition and into a tailspin from which they'll take years to recover.

Liverpool's American owners are feeling the squeeze. Come to think of it, what is England's most successful club doing in the hands of two Yanks who wouldn't know a football if it hit them in the face? Already paying £500,000 a week interest to the banks, George Gillett and Tom Hicks need the Champions League revenue just to stand still.

The economic downturn has wrecked their new Stanley Park stadium plans. The £230million that Rafa Benitez has been allowed to blow has left their balance sheet in tatters. A Champions League exit would tip them over the edge.

Not that things are that much different elsewhere. Manchester United's debt is nudging £700m. Even when they won the Premiership-Champions League double two seasons ago they still lost £45m. But for the efforts of Sir Alex Ferguson, the world's biggest football club would be in the grubber.

Hull City, currently staving off administration, have admitted spending £5.5m on agents fees over the last two years, for heavens sake. If they're relegated they'll go bust.

Those blaming Manchester City for stoking the arms race are missing the point. The wealth of Sheikh Mansour is no threat to the game. Debt is.

The Abu Dhabi billionaire is rebuilding that club without punting the title deeds. Too many others are doing the opposite.

Closer to home, Rangers' current situation is a warning to every other club in the country. The SPL is still trying to recover from the crazy spending of the late Nineties. The New Firm of Aberdeen and Dundee United don't have tuppence between them.

Kilmarnock admit relegation would put them out of business. Hearts? Let's not go there.

Platini would only allow clubs to spend what they earn. He'd adopt the German system where foreign owners aren't allowed to own more than 50 per cent of a club's shares.

The UEFA president is all for broader ownership of clubs. Barcelona's model, where the supporters own the club and elect their own president, prevents wealthy megalomaniacs getting near the Nou Camp boardroom.

Platini is hoping to have the new spending regulations in place within three years. In the interests of supporters at the mercy of boardroom ego trips we have to hope he succeeds. The alternative is hell in a hand cart.

UEFA say Steaua Bucharest's stadium is the only ground in Romania fit to host Champions League football. If that's the case, I wouldn't like to see the rest.

It's an uncovered hovel of crumbling concrete and rusting fences of the type that contributed to the Hillsborough disaster. That should not excuse the behaviour of the thugs in Rangers colours who battled with police during the game. That lot won't be happy until the club is playing behind closed doors or is tossed out of Europe completely.

As the bank tightens its grip at Ibrox, who in their right mind would buy the club while it's carrying that baggage?

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