Platini threatens European ban for Manchester United and Liverpool again

Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, has once again threatened to ban clubs from European competition if they spend more than they earn or have significant debts.

Platini gave the examples of Manchester United and Liverpool, English soccer's two most successful clubs, as the sort of teams that could be affected by Uefa's plans, which will be discussed by a new Uefa committee on Monday.

"The philosophy to participate in our competitions is you must not spend more money than you receive," Platini said in an interview with Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "If United have €300 million and they spend €400 million – no! If Liverpool pay €60 million every year to the banks, it's a lot of money.

"Every owner has asked me for a better philosophy, for better transparency. In Germany, debts are not accepted. In England they are."

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Platini added that he expects opposition to his plan to come from chief executives at clubs, rather than from the owners themselves. "Some of the chief executives are not OK with the chance of new regulations [on debt] because they don't want to change their business. The owners are OK with it," he told the Telegraph. "[Chelsea owner Roman] Abramovich hardly bought one player this year."

Platini said that clubs would be given three years to balance their books before the new measures were brought in.

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