Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor could face a revolt from players over strike action in the television revenue row, British newspaper reports suggest.
Taylor received overwhelming support from his members earlier this month when over 99 per cent of votes cast were in favour of industrial action.
However, the media coverage of his hardline stance has now, allegedly, seen an about-turn in the players' backing for the proposed strike action due to begin on December 1st.
"Premiership stars are having second thoughts about going on strike," Tottenham striker Les Ferdinand told the Sun."We don't want to go on strike and we still hope there will be a compromise," he said.
An unnamed Premiership player told the Daily Mail: "A while ago we listened to the PFA telling us how the Premier League was refusing to stick to a previous agreement that guaranteed it 5 per cent of TV money. We were also told that we could not face legal action from our clubs. "Now we hear that neither of these things is true. You tell any player that he is about to lose wages or even his job and there is no way he would strike".
The PFA want a 5 per cent share of the money put into the game by television companies. Football clubs are threatening to withhold the wages of striking players.
But PFA chief Gordon Taylor today rejected claims that Premiership players are "wobbling" over strike action.
"It's just propaganda. It's what they tried before when they went into the dressing rooms to put their case," said Taylor.
He said: "There are two ways of sorting this out. Quite simply, they can come up with a better offer or they can take us to court".
PA