Scottish football clubs could be forced to pay millions more for policing their own grounds.

Scotland's largest police force is considering pulling its resources from football matches as part of cost-cutting measures.

The cost of policing matches in Strathclyde has now reached almost £5m a year, with less than a third being covered by clubs.

Strathclyde Police aims to start charging clubs for the officers it deploys outside stadiums as well as inside, which could land them with a bill of more than £3m a year.

The potential additional costs could come as clubs already face an uncertain financial future following the Setanta crisis over payment for television coverage from the Irish broadcaster. Strathclyde Police spent nearly £4.9m policing matches in 2007-2008, but received just £1.6m from clubs.

Now its chief constable Stephen House said his force can no longer cover games because of the multi-million pound outlay and believes they should be concentrating on safety outside stadiums.

Glasgow MSP Bill Aitken welcomed the move and said resources could be put to better use in other areas on match days.

He said: "I think this is long overdue. Police have a point not only in the costings, but they could also point out that the amount of trouble inside grounds is a fraction of what it once was due to developments such as all-seated stadia and restrictions on drinking.

"The problem is that there are significant difficulties in the streets and bars after football matches and it's certainly arguable that the police resources should be concentrated there rather than stadia.

"Football clubs are no longer sports organisations, they are big business and we would be expecting a major private company to contribute to policing costs. Why should football companies be any different?"

Clubs are expected to be told to come up with the finances or pay for their own private security at a meeting later this week. They will be given 18 months' notice that the number of officers inside grounds will be cut.

Strathclyde has six SPL clubs - Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell, Kilmarnock, St Mirren and newly-promoted Hamilton - within its force area.

Last month's Old Firm game at Ibrox cost £150,000 to police both inside and outside, of which Rangers paid around £40,000. Mr House said his force is no longer legally required to accept the responsibility for safety within football grounds.

He believes the police should concentrate on safety outside grounds for which clubs are currently not charged. In an official report which will go before the Strathclyde Police Authority, Mr House said police no longer needed "to accept the onerous duty of care for overall responsibility for safety" for games. He said: "Under the current charging regime, there is a constant, considerable undercharging of football clubs for services provided.

"With the increasing demands on police resources against an ever-tightening financial backdrop, police forces have to be more accountable in their expenditure - therefore undercharging is not sustainable in the future. We have recommended overall responsibility for safety is transferred to its rightful owner - the stadium management."

Councillor Paul Rooney, convener of Strathclyde Police Authority, said the report raised a number of issues which need to be addressed.

He said: "In the current financial climate it is particularly important that public sector services demonstrate effective and efficient use of resources.

"This report raises a number of issues around efficiency and making the best use of our resources.

"These issues need to be addressed and I look forward to discussing the recommendations at the meeting."

A spokeswoman for Rangers said the club was aware of the report, but were unable to comment at this stage.

She said: "We have not yet seen the contents of the report, but expect to be fully consulted on the impact this would have for clubs."