LAWS & REGULATIONS: Bank of England Sir Melyn King praises UEFA Michel Platini's financial 'Fair Play' effort

Sir Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England also called for stricter regulation in the banking sector to prevent another crippling financial crisis. This morning he praised UEFA for attempting the same thing.

LONDON. / The Telegraph / The governor had just finished speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today on the state of the UK economy when he was tackled by sports reporter Gary Richardson on the finances of debt-laden Rangers.

"I think any football fan has seen clubs get into financial difficulty so many times over the years and then [be] rescued by some white knight who comes along only for that white knight in turn to become the person who is disillusioned and walks away," said Sir Mervyn, an Aston Villa fan, before praising UEFA's "fair play" rules, which will demand more financial discipline from clubs.

"They have to think through how they want to organise the finances of football. The UEFA fair play rules come in in the next few years and the great virtue of those rules is that they do give fans for all teams the chance to think that the outcome won't depend on which team has managed to find some rich person from around the world to come and put money in."

But, with the same well-practised diplomacy he exhibits when avoiding comment on Government policy, he refused to be drawn on the possibility of a similar fate befalling a Premier League team.

"Britain didn't have a rich person to come along and bail us out and that's why we're paying for it, but football clubs seem to be able to find them," he said.