Talks on averting a players' strike appear to be deadlocked after the chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association claimed industrial action was the only option left open to them - and the Premier League threatened to take the PFA to court to avert it.
Players' chief Gordon Taylor dismissed the latest offer from the League for a share of television money, saying there was nothing new in the three-year Stg£30million deal and it fell way short of the 5% they are looking for.
The row is no closer to being settled as the two parties appear to be as far apart now as they were at the beginning and Taylor said time was running out.
"They are offering us £10million a year. It has come down from 5% to 0.2% and they have already been told that offer is totally unacceptable," said the PFA chief executive.
"It is not a new offer at all and it is derisory, totally insulting.
"Strike action is the only option - we have been left with no alternative."
Taylor said that ballot papers would finally go out to players next week and there would then be a period of two to three weeks while responses were received and counted before a decision on industrial action could be made.