Amongst the various interests I have, following international news remains one of my favourites. Unfortunately only bad news comes out of the various channels. Currently the worst news is in the financial market. I would have thought that sport would not to be affected, but it seems I am wrong.

I must admit that I never reflected on the relationship between excessive spending in top flight football around Europe and the potential risks of a financial collapse, until I came across a story on an international news site. In a nutshell ,English FA chairman Lord Triesman was quoted as saying that English football has amassed debts of around £3 billion at all levels of the game and a top club could fold in the current financial climate.

I believe that this case is not unique and exclusive to the UK. However this story provides food for thought.

Sepp Blatter, when addressing the Members of the European Parliament outlined the need for greater controls over who is permitted to invest in the game. I believe that this warning came a bit too late and that trying to control things now is a case of remedial action as no preventive stances were taken.

Coming back to the story in the UK, a third of the overall debt - £950m – is owed by England's top four clubs - Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal - and that on average the wage bills are climbing by 12 percent a year.

The FA chairman stressed that the ownership of clubs was no longer as transparent as it should be, with owners moving the debt on through the financial markets."The owners break the debt up as a matter of policy into small packages. They mix it with other debts; some of it fine some of it toxic, and sell it on."

This is no news for those who follow Italian football. Parma and Lazio suffered a similar fate due to the debt mix when the Tanzi’s and Cragnotti’s owned the clubs and made them part of their business empire. When Parmalat and Cirio went into liquidation, the teams suffered.

English football has managed to attract a lot of investment over the years. As Sepp Blatter said "English football is attractive to investors - it is a phenomenon of the era. The economic power of football is immense." However he called EU lawmakers to work with world football's governing body to draw up plans that would make it tougher for unscrupulous money men to make their profits and run.

I am afraid this is too little and too late. One hopes that we’ll be still able to enjoy the game.