League start search for new bosses

The Football League were today starting to search for a new chairman and chief executive to fill a power vacuum left by the resignations of Keith Harris and David Burns.

On the surface, former chairman Harris and ex-chief executive Burns paid the price for the collapse of the TV deal with ITV Digital and the ensuing loss of the court case for compensation.

However, the underlying causes included their increasingly fractious relationships with outspoken club chairmen, especially those looking for greater power for First Division clubs.

The League are looking for candidates with business acumen to fill the vacant posts, although those were exactly the sort of qualities admired in Harris and Burns when they were hired almost two years ago.

Burns defended his record over the past 21 months and stressed the ITV Digital contract - without a parent company guarantee from Carlton and Granada - had been signed before he or Harris took over their posts.

He said: ‘‘The petty backbiting and division into factions demean both the clubs involved and the game in general and do nothing to help sustain the success of our national game.’’