Michel Platini, the most powerful man in European football, launched an attack last night on what he called the “cheats” of English football, whose debt-ridden clubs threaten to dominate the game. Platini cited Manchester United and Chelsea, effectively calling into question their motives and morals and accusing them of reaching the Champions League final on the financial “never-never”.

The direct assault by the Uefa president on the eve of the European Championship finals in Switzerland and Austria had repercussions at a meeting of the 20 Barclays Premier League club chairmen and chief executives being held at a secret location in Leicestershire. Their official response to the damning verdict on the way they run English football was “no comment”, but the meeting seethed with indignation as Platini’s words raised hackles among officials at some of England’s biggest clubs.

Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, and David Gill, his counterpart at United, were said to be furious with Platini’s attack on their clubs and their owners. One source close to the clubs said: “If Monsieur Platini was hoping to warn off English clubs, then he has had the reverse effect. People in the Premier League will just not stand for being slagged off like this. Everything he said was arrant nonsense and this is not the way to go about getting co-operation at the highest levels.”

Top of the Premier League’s agenda yesterday was the 39th game, the controversial extra end-of-season fixture that would involve all 20 clubs playing a match on foreign soil. The proposal by Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s chief executive, angered Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, who is as determined as Platini to curb the power of English football.

The Premier League chairmen backed down from rubber-stamping plans for the 39th game, but the unrest caused by Platini threatens to stiffen resistance to what is being seen as bullying tactics employed by world football’s most powerful men. While Platini launched his salvo, Blatter is trying to convince the European Commission that clubs should be limited to fielding five foreign players alongside six from the home nation — his “six plus five” rule — a regulation that many believe is aimed at English football.

Although England are not at Euro 2008, which begins today, their shadow hangs over the championship after Platini’s attack. Asked what he thought of England missing the tournament, Platini, a winner in 1984 with France, said: “Nothing. England should have done better on the pitch. I don’t want to say that we’re missing England. If England aren’t capable of finishing in the top two of a group of six, that’s their problem.”

But that was just the start as the Uefa president warmed to his theme and contrasted the success of English clubs in the Champions League with the performance of the national team, saying that the Champions League trophy was won by United on financial credit.

“Club football and that of national teams aren’t the same thing,” he said. “It bothers me. We need to find the means, with the European Club Association, to help clubs to solve their problems. Defeat should not be a financial disaster. The goal is not to win titles but [to make] money to pay off debts. Look at the debts of Chelsea and Manchester United. Fifa and Uefa owe it to themselves to fight this. Because today it’s those who cheat who win.

“We are going to need to find a solution. We’re starting to work on it, but I am very concerned by clubs being bought by foreigners. I don’t see why Americans come to invest in these clubs, if not to turn them into products. It’s a never-ending gold rush and then you get to this proposal of a 39th game abroad.”

The Premier League chairmen had softened their approach on the 39th game, anxious to consult Uefa and the FA before pressing ahead with their plans. A decision on whether to give the experiment the green light is expected from the Premier League before the end of the year, but Platini is undoubtedly strengthening the clubs’ resolve.