Soccer: Players' strike talks deadlocked again

The latest round of talks designed at averting a threatened players’ strike have ended in further stalemate.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor met with Premier League counterpart Richard Scudamore at the PFA’s headquarters in Manchester yesterday, along with Manchester United director and solicitor Maurice Watkins.

The PFA are still demanding a 5% stake of the £1.5bn television deal the Premier League recently negotiated with Sky and ITV, with the latest offer of £50m over three years having been rejected last week.

But the governing bodies remain at loggerheads and it would appear if a settlement is not agreed this week, then industrial action with 99% of the PFA’s members having voted to strike is likely to take place on the weekend of December 1 and 2.

Taylor said: ‘‘The timetable is we have got meetings today as well but we delayed taking any action that would affect last weekend’s games, this coming weekend’s games and we don’t want to feel we are being strung along.

‘‘From that point of view, time is of the essence and I want people to concentrate their minds to really get to the main thrust of the issue.’’