Following a week of intense media coverage of the ongoing dispute between The Football League and Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, League chairman Keith Harris publicly thanked football supporters for their continued support.

Harris commented, "It is clear that football supporters share our outrage at the actions of Carlton and Granada in this matter, the support they have given to us has been a tremendous source of encouragement. Like us they understand that when you enter into an agreement you should see it out, not attempt to wriggle out on it because you no longer like the terms you originally signed up to. Our clubs have committed themselves to long term players contracts on the back of this agreement and could face serious problems if it is not honoured."

The League's £315m three season television rights agreement began this season with games being covered on the ITV Sports Channel and on the ITV terrestrial network. At present almost £180m is left outstanding on the contract with two payments of £89.25m still to be made, one this August and one in August 2003. Carlton and Granada have to date made just a single offer to the League of £25m in each season, with the payment dependent on ITV securing the rights to show games in the Champion's League.

Harris continued, "It's not the League's or its clubs' fault that the ITV Sports Channel has not been successful. The popularity of our competition is not in doubt, more people pay to watch our games than any other league in Europe. What is open to question is the way the channel has been marketed, managed and above all distributed. I've lost count of the number of times fans have complained to me about the unavailability of the channel in their area or on Sky Digital."

Harris was also clear on the potential consequences of the two companies actions.

"Make no mistake," he said. "This is a very serious threat to all 72 of our members. Every single club would lose significant amounts of revenue should Carlton and Granada be allowed to wash their hands of their obligations and we will not allow that to happen.

"I'm sure fans will, like me, be absolutely appalled that Carlton and Granada have only attempted to re-negotiate their Football League deal. They also have contracts with both UEFA and the Premier League and yet there has been no suggestion that they will do anything other than honour these in full. It smacks of multi-billion pound companies attempting to bully small football clubs into accepting less than is rightfully theirs because they think they'll get more change out of them than the big clubs. It is fundamentally wrong and we will stand firm to protect the future of our game."

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