FOOTBALL must end the "financial doping" that allows a small number of super-rich clubs to grab all the top prizes, MPs were told.

An inquiry by the Commons culture select committee – triggered, in part, by the massive debts piled up at clubs such as Liverpool – was urged to recommend dramatic changes to the national game.

The call came from Lord Triesman, the former FA chairman, whose report calling for action on the "very tangible dangers" posed by debt was suppressed by the FA two years ago.

Since then, LFC has suffered the trauma of last year's court actions before Tom Hicks and George Gillett were forced out by new owner John W Henry. Many other clubs, including Man Utd andPortsmouth, have been hit.

Yesterday, Lord Triesman said many people believed the phrase "financial doping" was "dramatic", but added: "It is a pretty accurate term for what it describes. People want football to be a fair competition on playing grounds – and they are right."

Experts from a leading business school used the LFC example to condemn the way football's finances "go against every sporting ethic, never mind common sense".