Football 'being ruined by greed, parasites and eunuchs at the top'

Football administrators are "as impotent as a room of eunuchs" and the game's regulation should be overhauled, MPs have been told.

Liberal Democrat Bob Russell called for an inquiry into football ownership, warning that the professional game was "incapable of self-regulation".

During question time in the Commons yesterday, ministers also faced concerns from Conservative MP Lee Scott, who said that overseas owners were "just asset-stripping" British clubs.

Sports minister Hugh Robertson is holding a consultation on football ownership over the next six months.

Mr Russell said: "You have no doubt discovered by now that those at the top of football are as impotent as a room of eunuchs, that financially they have regimes which would make bankers blush and that, with the greedy footballers and parasitic agents, the game is being ruined.

"With that in mind, and noting that the game is incapable of self-regulation, isn't it time that this government held a Royal Commission, or some other inquiry, because the game cannot self-regulate itself?"

Mr Robertson said there was "widespread agreement that the position we're in is not satisfactory".

"The problem is that, because of the disparate nature of football club ownership, there is no one silver bullet that delivers that," he said.

"I have said I will consult widely over the next six months, I will continue to do that and I will, of course, bear your suggestion in mind as part of that consultation."

However, Mr Robertson admitted that, in spite of examples of bad overseas ownership, there were some "really good" foreign owners.