English football has built up a debt mountain of £3bn ($5.2bn) and requires strong regulatory supervision to increase transparency and prevent clubs from going bankrupt, the game’s most powerful chief said on Tuesday.

Lord Triesman, the Football Association’s chairman, used a speech in London to plot a radical route map for the game, including a sports law to clarify lines of responsibility and a review of the Premier League’s “fit and proper person” test for club owners.