FA chairman Lord Triesman warned football clubs against the dangers of spiralling debts, while Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore rejected the concerns, arguing clubs' debts were manageable.
Speaking at the inaugural Leaders in Football conference Triesman said he estimates that English clubs owe an estimated £3 billion, posing a "terrible danger" in the current world financial climate and warned against the potential consequences of clubs carrying a large burden of debt.
Triesman told the BBC that "clubs, for the first time in my memory, are coming out without their shirt sponsors. They are beginning to see the edge of the hurricane that is blowing and the art is to make sure you stay at the edge, or get out of the path of it. What you can't do is say 'it's not going to get anywhere near me' and not think about it."
He added: "I don't think anybody who is rational can look around this environment we are in and think they are immune. Football is obviously carrying a pretty large volume of debt. People will be making business judgements about whether it is sustainable or not, but it is carrying quite a large volume of debt... We now have a position where it is very hard to track things. It is not transparent enough and we don't know, if we are able to track it, if the debt is held by people who are financially secure or not”.
Despite the credit crunch, however, Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive believes that the game has an optimistic future and that when the next Premier League TV rights came up for negotiation, the amount of money will only go up.
Scudamore also responded for calls made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter for stricter rules on foreign ownership of clubs in the UK and abroad by defending the fit and proper persons test which needs to be passed to own a top-flight club. He told BBC Sport: "I am certain there are people who are not owners of clubs because of the test."
The acquisition of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi United Group from Thakshin Shinawatra in September made them the latest Premier League team to benefit from wealthy foreign investors.
"You could argue that one of the reasons that Mr Shinawatra has decided that it might be right to sell is that it might be at some point he may fail our fit and proper persons test," Scudamore said. "And don't underestimate the role that the football authorities have maybe played in that."
