CLUBS' SPENDING TO BE CURBED

From the Independent:

Major reforms of European football have moved a step closer after sports ministers agreed to a raft of proposals including controls on how much clubs can pay for players' wages and transfers.

The Independent Sports Review, the report by the former Portuguese minister Jose Luis Arnaut that contains the proposals, is to become a key part of a European Commission white paper on sport.

Arnaut's review calls for rules to prevent billionaire owners "buying up all the best players", and says that salary controls should not limit what an individual player can earn but curb the total amount clubs can spend on wages.

The latest move was agreed by a meeting of 25 European sports ministers in Brussels yesterday, and six ministers - including Britain's Richard Caborn - will form a working group to advise on the drafting of the new legislation.

Caborn has been criticised by Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore for trying to increase government influence over sport, and the pair will have a meeting on the issue in February.