In the deeply ironic location of Stamford Bridge Uefa last night stepped up its assault on the debt culture of English football.

David Taylor, the European governing body's chief executive, warned of a future in which clubs would be barred entry to the Champions League if their finances were not acceptable. "There would be forms of communication, even warnings or reprimands, before one got to a situation of exclusion but it is absolutely possible," Taylor said.

"There is concern about these numbers, particularly in an era of financial crisis."

His hosts Chelsea, their balance sheet propped up by Roman Abramovich's loans, are obviously in Uefa's firing line. Earlier this year Michel Platini, Uefa's president, said in reference to the debt burden incurred by Chelsea and their Champions League co-finalists, Manchester United: "It's the clubs who cheat that are winning. European football must be clean and transparent and we do not want clubs buying success on credit." The 2005 Champions League winners Liverpool, with their debt issues, are another probable target as are some clubs in Spain and, in particular, Italy.

Taylor's threat followed Tuesday's warning by FA chairman Lord Triesman, also speaking at the Leaders in Football Conference, that the Premier League's cumulative £3bn debt-mountain represented a "tangible danger".

There is clearly a desire among the game's regulators to rein in the Premier League clubs, who have begun to dominate the Champions League and are increasingly being taken over by foreign owners, some with independent wealth, some using the banks to finance their control. "Our conclusion in Uefa is we cannot leave things as they are," said Taylor. How it can be done, and whether it is either desirable or achievable, is another matter.

Uefa has been working on a licensing system since around the millennium, bringing in the first controls in 2004, updating them earlier this year. Under this legislation CSKA Sofia were denied entry to this year's Champions League, having been denied a licence because of unpaid debts owing to the Bulgarian National Social Security Institute and other creditors.

On Monday a new working party, created at Platini's behest, will meet at Uefa headquarters in Nyon to begin exploring ways the licence can be given further muscle. Alex Horne, the Football Association's chief operating officer, is expected to attend. Elements they are considering include an adherence to "key financial ratios" (such as wages to turnover), and an "equivalent treatment of debt" across Uefa clubs.

Taylor said Uefa was seeking "financial fair play". He added: "This does not mean a level playing field, that has never been the case, but clubs must operate within their resources. The problem is not debt itself, debt can be a useful financial instrument, it is about clubs incurring debt they cannot support. "

Uefa has been looking at the domestic regulations in Germany, Switzerland and France, which are all stricter than the UK, and to the United States.

"Debt in itself is not necessarily a bad thing," added Taylor. "Just because I have a mortgage it doesn't mean I'm bankrupt. But the debt does have a requirement to be properly serviced. Clubs must not expose themselves to such an extent that the whole future of the club is jeopardised unless some white knight comes over the horizon with millions and millions of pounds. That is a very dangerous and risky financial strategy for any organisation and as far as football is concerned we have to consider whether we should take further measures to regulate against that. Governments might bail out banks but they are not going to bail out a football club."

Bruce Buck, Chelsea's chairman, argued that Platini, and Uefa, appeared to "misunderstand" the situation at Chelsea. Buck added: "I have no problem with there being a debate on the issue. Our debt is not external, we don't owe it to a bank or insurance company, we owe it to the owner of the club who is a committed investor in the club. The fact that it is characterised as debt, or as equity is irrelevant. Someone called it 'soft debt'; it is even softer, it is equivalent to equity for all practical purposes."

Taylor, though, had addressed this argument: "Many new owners or investors are not giving gifts to clubs. In most cases they are loans. It means the club is indebted to a benefactor. If the number is large enough, you need another large investor to take over or else you are up the Swanee."

Abramovich is understood to have loaned Chelsea, interest-free, £578m. Buck admitted this was not something they could not afford to "worry about". "No matter how much money Roman Abramovich has, at some point you have to notice when you put a significant amount of money into one particular investment and we recognise that," he said. "Our objective, as it has been for several years, is to get to as close to break-even as we can in order that we don't have to look to Mr Abramovich to fund us continually."

Taylor, who cited Arsène Wenger as an advocate for reform from within the game, insisted that, like the requirement to field domestically-trained players, any legislation would be introduced over a period of time. "It is not something that will happen overnight," he said. "We are still at the stage of investigating and developing solutions, but we are concerned about the longer term. There are no solutions yet but we are all convinced something needs to be done."

Premier League of debt

1. Man Utd

Owners: Glazer family

Debt: £666m

"Comfortably serviced by strong cash flows" says a spokesman, citing large annual pre-tax profits.

2. Chelsea

Owner: R Abramovich

Debt: £578m

The club is dependent for survival on its owner's cash, both in loans and capital.

3. Liverpool

Owners: T Hicks, G Gillett

Debt: £350m+

Bought club with borrowed money. Now the Americans cannot fund a new stadium.

4. Arsenal

Main shareholders: D Fiszman, A Usmanov (24 per cent each)

Debt: £318m

Have accrued debt to fund an asset – the Emirates Stadium – that will be profitable in the long term.

5. Fulham

Owner: Mohamed al-Fayed

Debt: c£180m

Wholly reliant for survival on Fayed, who would sell if he could recoup losses.

6. Man City

Owner: Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan

Debt: £170m (imminently or already cleared)

City are now the plaything of one of the world's richest men. What is debt?

7. Wigan

Owner: Dave Whelan

Debt: £54m

Whelan remains one of the last of old-school, local businessman-benefactors – for now.

8. Middlesborough

Owner: Steve Gibson

Debt: c£50m

Gibson will remain a long-term financial supporter via his profitable parent company.

9. Bolton

Owner: Eddie Davies

Debt: £37m+

Owes cash to parent company that cannot sustain indefinite losses. Davies would sell.

10. Aston Villa

Owner: Randy Lerner

Debt: £37m

Unlike others, Lerner has not followed a "leveraged" buyout and has spent his own money, mostly.

11. Sunderland

Owner: Drumaville Consortium

Debt: £35m

Irish owners have speculated to accumulate Premier League stability.

12. Portsmouth

Owner: Alexandre Gaydamak

Debt: £31m

Millionaire owner who would happily sell to a billionaire.

13. Everton

Owners: B Kenwright (37.2 per cent), R Earl (34.6)

Debt: £26.4m

The latest club to ask sell-off expert Keith Harris to find them a billionaire buyer.

14. West Ham

Owner: Björgolfur Gudmundsson

Debt: c£25m

Gudmundsson's troubled Landsbanki initially took on £20m of Hammers' debt.

15. Blackburn

Owner: The Walker Trust

Debt: £20m

The Trust would happily offload the club but will fund it moderately in the meantime.

16. Tottenham

Owner: ENIC

Debt: £17m

As a listed company, needs to be more transparent and prudent than most.

17. Stoke City

Owner: Peter Coates

Debt: c£5m

Premier League income will comfortably cover low-level borrowing for now.

18. West Bromwich

Owner: Jeremy Peace.

Debt: c£3m

Another club that can boost its coffers in the top flight, if restrained with its spending.

19. Newcastle

Owner: Mike Ashley

Debt: Negligible (almost cleared from £110m+)

Ashley paid £110m to reduce debt, but now wants that back in £300m price tag.

20. Hull City

Owner: Paul Duffen (main shareholder)

Debt: Negligible

Premier League status means financial dreamland, if (and it is a big 'if') the club can control their spending.