Too much to lose

The PFA has everything to lose and the players and clubs have too much to lose.

The party with nothing to lose and everything to gain is the television who would love players to refuse to play in front of the cameras hence their announcement that they will be present at games where the PFA is threatening strike action.

TV bosses will be there at games with their fingers firmly on the 'on' button saying 'go on, make my day' to players at the moment of truth so they can rip up and renegotiate the current ridiculously overpriced contract to screen games.

Neither Sky nor ITV will struggle to fill the gaps in their schedules. Sky will broadcast another Spanish League game and ITV will stick Die Hard on in place of the Premiership and probably be pleasantly surprised that a decent film on a Saturday night gets more viewers than football anyway.

A new TV contract will provide clubs with a fraction of the current income, players will see their wages slashed or their jobs gone and the Premier and Football leagues will no longer feel like voluntarily donating mega millions of pounds to a union which has caused them such unpleasantness, thereby killing the PFA in the process.

Neither the players nor the clubs are brave enough or stupid enough to allow a strike to happen so there will be a compromise and no games will be blacked out.