Where is the passion?

Britain's sports minister criticised English Premier League players for a lack of long-term commitment to their clubs and backed Liverpool fans hoping to oust the club's American owners.

Andy Burnham said he witnessed a completely different level of passion at the Beijing Olympics, where Britain enjoyed their most successful summer games in a century.

"The sport out there felt like real sport, real passion, real competition," said Burnham at a meeting of the Share Liverpool FC group, which wants to regain control of the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.

"Sometimes when I watch the Premier League, I think it's becoming – what is it becoming? Does it really mean as much to the people who are playing? I think that today's players don't have that same level of emotional attachment to the clubs they represent."

Despite being a fan of crosstown rival Everton, Burnham was speaking at the relaunch of a long shot member-share scheme being masterminded by Liverpool supporters and former players, including John Barnes and Phil Thompson.

Burnham urged them "to take the club back from within" and set an example for the rest of football.

"My worry long term is if the Premier League becomes a league table of individual wealth for the 20 wealthiest individuals around the world, what will that mean?" said the culture, media and sports secretary. "It won't mean a great deal at all – and that will mean we have lost something incredibly precious, which is institutions like Liverpool that inspire local pride.

"Clubs have drifted too far from their supporter base in recent times and they need to come back to their roots."

Dubai International Capital (DIC) had several bids to buy Liverpool turned down earlier this year by American owners Hick and Gillet.