Joe McLean: Football's financial fiascos should force a change of tactics

But the dawn of this particular campaign should also be seen as the

time for football clubs to finally begin to correct previous years of overspending and extravagance, and begin to embark upon a period of fiscal discipline to ensure that no other club enters administration.

Over the past few years, we've seen the threat of administration increasingly become a reality as clubs live beyond their means, gambling with their assets to achieve the ultimate dream.

For so many clubs, this dream is unattainable and the price paid is very high. For other clubs, simply the rising cost of the industry, with increased wage demands, higher than ever transfer fees and falling match day attendances, can lead to a team struggling to meet its costs.

The sport's governing bodies are beginning to raise their voices against this trend and football clubs must take on board the message from the likes of UEFA, encouraging them strongly (against the threat of sanctions) to live within their means, and spend only what they earn.

UEFA is insistent that clubs strike a balanced budget over a rolling three year period. It is only by doing this that clubs will be able to pay all their liabilities on a timely basis.

UEFA also wants clubs to invest more on youth development policies and to engage in less speculative investment on player transfers which many sides cannot afford.

Another highly publicised element to add to the mix is the number of clubs in recent years that have been unable to discharge liabilities due to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

This is one of the most concerning risks to a football club and the industry can expect to see a serious hardening of attitude towards football as these cases increase. The recent experience of HMRC arguing

in the High Court with Portsmouth will ensure that HMRC will be striving to make sure that clubs do not run up such large arrears to the public purse in the future.

The Portsmouth case, one of the most high profile, should stand as a warning that a club needs to be run as any good business would, with common sense, an element of caution and an understanding of the market place.

In short, we all need to live within our means.

The football industry is a microcosm of the British economy. Within UK PLCs and SMEs, as well as in homes up and down the country, business leaders and families are tightening their belts and preparing for what is likely, against the background of public expenditure cuts and rising unemployment, to be a period of some austerity.

Against this macro-economic background, clubs will have to demonstrate responsibility in how they run their businesses and be prepared

for many of their fans not having the same disposable income to spend in attending matches and purchasing replica kits.

Spending only what they earn is the way to demonstrate that clubs can handle this responsibility and, in so doing, they will be showing that they respect and understand their supporters who themselves will have to spend within their budget.

This is not only a period of readjustment for the football industry but for society as a whole, which has spent much of the last 20 years living an unsustainable debt-filled lifestyle.

Football retains an important position within the fabric of British society. The majority of fans would prefer to see their teams performing in the league they can afford to operate in, rather than see their team gamble financially and risk their club going out of business completely. A club which has its roots and heart in the local community that it represents is what football was, and should be, all about.

The new season might be the last opportunity for clubs to learn to live within their financial means. Failure to do so is likely to result in a spate of insolvencies in the imminent future.

For some, insolvency will not mean a restructuring of finances, but rather it may mean that some clubs go out of business altogether.

For the good of the game, therefore, it is imperative that football clubs demonstrate an understanding of economics and show leadership and responsibility towards the game, towards supporters and to all other stakeholders.

Joe McLean is a partner and head of recovery and reorganisation at Grant Thornton UK LLP's Leeds office and the firm's national football industry expert.