THE HEAD of England's Football Association believes that the global credit crisis could force one of the country's top teams into bankruptcy, but said it is impossible to know the true health of the clubs because their finances are not public.

FA chairman David Triesman on Tuesday urged an end to the culture of secrecy surrounding the finances of English football clubs, who he said now have debts totalling about £3 billion ($7.7b).

Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are believed to account for about a third of that debt.

Speaking to the Leaders in Football Conference at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, he drew a parallel with the recent collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers.

'If somebody had said to me: 'Did I have a genuine fear that Lehman Brothers would go bust?' I'd say, 'No I didn't,' Triesman said.

'What I know is we are in a very much more volatile position in which debt is not only a problem in terms of its volume, it's a problem because those who own the debt are themselves now often in serious problems. Your fate isn't in your own hands.'

Given the turmoil currently sweeping through financial markets, Triesman said that he is braced for one of England's top clubs going out of business, and demanded greater financial transparency from the clubs' owners.

'The debt mountain as we now know is owned around the world and therefore part of the value of the club is owned around the world, often by financial institutions, some of which are in terrible health,' Triesman said.

Tangible danger

He said that such high debt levels were a 'tangible danger' at a time when 'transparency lies in an unmarked grave'.

Triesman's strident opinions met with a hostile reaction from other leading figures within English football, with Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore having a swipe at Triesman and Uefa president Michel Platini.

'We've also got to be very careful we don't somehow adopt Mr Platini's and the French view of debt, which is debt is bad,' Scudamore said. 'Debt is inevitable. Debt to a degree is healthy.

'You'll end up with a situation where no one is allowed to go on holiday to France with a mortgage.

'What is important is that the level of indebtedness is proportionate to the income. The FA themselves are one of the most indebted football organisations in the world with their Wembley (stadium) debt at something like £350m with a turnover of about £300m.'

Triesman also called for a review of the 'fit and proper persons' test that determines who may own English clubs.

The issue came to the fore when former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was allowed to buy Manchester City despite outrage from human rights groups who were critical of alleged abuses during his time in power.

AP