Premier League 'will take over running of financially ailing clubs'

The Premier League is to effectively take over the running of any top-flight club whose finances are in a perilous state.

In a raft of measures agreed by Premier League chairmen, a club deemed to be in danger could also be hit with a transfer embargo or prevented from awarding new contracts to players.

Any club who fail to meet their financial obligations, such as paying off creditors, will risk the Premier League taking control of their budget. The trigger for the Premier League to threaten to look at a club's books will be if there is a "qualification" placed on the accounts by auditors concerned over its finances. "When the auditors have a question as to whether a club is sustainable," explained Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

He said that if a club were at risk then the organisation would act – including working with the board and owners on more manageable spending. However the intervention may not stop there. "The level of management will be what is necessary on an ongoing basis," Scudamore said.

There has been growing concern that a Premier League club may go under and the organisation is concerned what effect this would have on the league and its image. The measures – also aimed at tightening the rules around the ownership of clubs, their spending and sustainability – were agreed at a meeting on Sept 10 and announced on Sept 14.

As from this season all Premier League clubs will have to submit their accounts to the organisation by March 1 and there will also be written confirmation sought for clubs who have benefactors that they will remain committed. The rules are broadly in line with those imposed by Uefa on clubs who enter the Champions League or Europa Cup.

"All our 20 clubs as of now will have to abide by the same financial criteria," Scudamore said. "The rationale is simple. It's essential that the clubs are run as viable going concerns and they are sustainable."

The changes tie in with improvements to the "fit and proper persons test" regarding ownership of clubs which was passed in the summer.

Crucially Scudamore opposes the attempts, led by Uefa president Michel Platini, to link income to expenditure as "a crude means". He said: "Eighty to 90 per cent of where Uefa are, we are at, but there is a philosophical gap when it comes to an entirely regulated system."

In a second significant change the Premier League clubs have agreed that, from next season, they will be limited to having squads of 25 senior players of which only 17 can be over the age of 21 and not "home-grown". Scudamore said the definition of a home-grown player was one who had spent three years, under the age of 21, being trained by somebody in the English and Welsh professional systems. The squad lists have to be declared at the closure of the summer transfer window, at the end of August each year, and, again, at the end of the January transfer window.

The definition of under 21 will be for the player's 21st birthday to fall on or after the Jan 1 before a season starts that following August.