³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Across the nation several football clubs are in real trouble and the estimated total debt in English football is £2.8 billion. Some are facing administration and potential winding up orders, and some in the game question the attitude of foreign investors.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Inside Out, Monday 8 February, 7.30pm, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One in the North West, asks just how bad football's debt problem is in north west England and if famous names could disappear altogether.

Wigan Athletic owner David Whelan told Inside Out: "Unless there are great changes in the Premier League and more regulation introduced, I can see carnage."

Whelan also told the programme: "I think if we look back at what's gone on in the UK now, we would question the ownership by foreign people. I would question it a lot.

"They have no respect and no real feelings about this game of professional football. The English people absolutely love it and the foreign people come in and think it's a toy or something they can play games at. 'Oh yes, I own a professional football club in England.' We're not about that and it worries me that these foreigners come in and I've said it before, if one spits his dummy out, which will happen, they'll come down like a pack of cards."

Professor Tom Cannon, from the University of Liverpool, told Inside Out that the overall debt in English football is currently estimated at £2.8 billion and of that, around half, £1.4 billion, is in the north west.

He said: "It's very worrying. It's hard to see how it can be sustained if there was any movement away from the current levels of success. The two biggest clubs, of course, Manchester United and Liverpool, have a debt between them which is probably in excess of a billion pounds, or as they're both owned by Americans, over one and a half a billion dollars.

"In the long term, it's not sustainable. In the long term, the reality is that clubs are having to pay more and more interest and as they restructure it, the debt gets longer term. It means that the most indebted clubs are incredibly dependent on continuing success."

With fans' discontent growing, Inside Out speaks to those who are disenchanted with how things are being run. The programme also looks at the situation for Stockport County, who, like many clubs in the region, are battling just to stay viable.

But is it all doom and gloom? Accrington Stanley came back from the brink of liquidation last November, following eleventh hour financial investment and loans from the Professional Footballers' Association.

Notes to Editors

Use of any information in this press release must credit: Inside Out, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One North West (7.30pm, Monday 8 February).

Digital viewers outside the North West can see Inside Out on channel 978, satellite viewers on channel 101 and on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer.

For further information visit bbc.co.uk/manchester.

HH2