A rift was starting to emerge in the Football League's united battle against the ITV firms Carlton and Granada yesterday as clubs threatened with bankruptcy began to reconsider their refusal to renegotiate the £315 million television contract.
In a move that underlines growing fears that ITV Digital could close altogether within a fortnight, league executives were asking the administrators Deloitte & Touche for guarantees that games would continue to be broadcast until the end of the season. A crisis meeting of all 72 club chairmen has been called for next Tuesday in London.
A growing number of chairmen are privately coming to believe that a renegotiation of their broadcasting deal may be the best way of securing their survival following the government's insistence it would not bail out clubs.
In another development the position of the Football League chairman David Burns and chief executive Keith Harris came under further pressure after the revelation both men have gone on holiday with their families.
The clubs are owed £178 million by ITV Digital for the outstanding two years of their deal but the TV firm wants to pay only £50 million. Although the chairmen have rejected the new offer as "derisory" and are publicly standing firm behind advice from their lawyers that they have a cast-iron contract, many are increasingly nervous about the prospects of a court battle.
If the dispute degenerates into a full-blown legal war, it could be the best part of two years before a judge makes a ruling and there is no guarantee it would be in the Football League's favour. Many clubs could not survive that time without cash from television.
Lord Grabiner, a leading UK commercial barrister, has advised Carlton and Granada that any attempt by the league to take them to court would fail. The full version of the contract was never signed and lawyers for the television companies say this means they are not liable to pay up.
A spokesman for the league dismissed talk of a rift and insisted that Carlton and Granada would be pursued for the full £178 million, due in two instalments. However, he reiterated the league was prepared to negotiate over when the final £89 million payment was made.
The Football League spokesman John Nagle said: "There is a mood of cautiousness among clubs. They are taking stock and waiting to view how things unfold."
Swindon Town, which was placed in administration for six weeks on Wednesday with £3.5 million debts - about £700,000 is owed to the Inland Revenue - got a boost yesterday when their majority shareholder Seton Wills gave £400,000 to the administrators to enable the club to complete its fixtures this season. However Ron Bradley, the chairman of Lincoln City, who are a community-owned club, said they faced extinction.
Chris McMenemy, an agent and former footballer and manager, said: "It has got to have an effect on players' wages if club revenue is reduced. Clubs like Cardiff and Hull, who have relatively big gates for their divisions, are generating enough money to pay higher wages but a club like Halifax are trying to get by on gates of less than 2,000. Portsmouth are one of the clubs with a millionaire chairman who obviously makes a difference but, if TV money can no longer be relied on, will men like Milan Mandaric be so willing to put money in?"
Philip Smith of First Artists took a more positive approach. "I don't think this will cause a big problem because there has already been a rationalising of salaries in the past year or so," he said. "The problem is that some of the second-tier players, if you like, are being paid more than they are worth."
Birmingham City plc's chairman and club co-owner David Sullivan said: "Anyone who thinks this isn't going to affect football is a fool. We've signed players on long contracts on the strength of the £3 million-a-year we got from the agreement, topped up with our own money. What do we do now? I'd love to dump some of our players like we league clubs have been dumped. You don't expect companies the size of Carlton and Granada to behave like this."
Guardian Service
