ST JAMES'S GATE have given the National League 21 days to provide them with a list of fixtures for the forthcoming First Division if legal action between the two parties is to be avoided.

The club's legal representative, Maurice Lyons, said yesterday the club were still entitled to membership of the National League and that the attempt to remove them had been improperly carried out.

He said the club were awaiting confirmation that the decision to admit the 1990 Cup finalists into the First Division meant their exclusion. The receipt of such confirmation would, he said, prompt a High Court action.

When they met to consider electing a new member to the League, members of the Management Committee were informed that a letter had been received from. St James's Gate threatening to initiate legal proceedings if their expulsion from the First Division was confirmed.

The club argued in this letter that their exclusion on the basis that they could not provide financial guarantees for the coming season was unjust because there is no provision for the requirement of such assurances under the rules of the league.

They have, however, called for the dispute to be referred to independent arbitration which, they say, is the approach recommended by UEFA in such cases.