Platini urges footie money fight

Uefa president Michel Platini is calling on the Prime Minister to help in the fight against "the malign and ever-present influence of money" in the modern game.

Platini has written a letter to all European leaders, including Gordon Brown, to ask governments to accept their role as "the last hope for a healthy and balanced future of European football".

The Premier League has seen huge foreign investment in recent years with the likes of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, US tycoon Malcolm Glazer and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra taking over Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City respectively.

And with a mega TV deal also signed for English football's top-flight, Platini fears the prevalence of money could lead to a dangerous shift in traditional values.

There had been speculation that the new European Union Reform Treaty would give football's governing bodies more power to tackle inequalities in the game as well as battling doping and a lack of homegrown talent in teams.

But Platini is upset that recommendations proposed by Portuguese minister Jose Luis Arnaut have been rejected in favour of a less strongly-worded article which many fear could leave the sport open to legal challenges from clubs and players who do not agree with any tough new measures.

His letter, reproduced in a national newspaper, reads: "A serious threat hangs over the development of European football: the malign and ever-present influence of money.

"Money has always been in sport and football has had a professional component for 150 years.

"But money has never been the ultimate objective of football: the main purpose has always been to win trophies."

"For the first time we may be entering an era in which financial profit alone will be the measure of sporting success."

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