Football was last night warned it faces ruin as TV chiefs threatened to pull the plug and bankrupt the national game.
Football League chiefs angrily branded ITV Digital's attempts to renegotiate their £315m contract as a "joke" and a threat to the lifeblood of 72 clubs, hundreds of players' livelihoods and the economies of small towns.
And even the Premiership big guns like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal were warned that football's TV gravy train is heading for the buffers.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor is convinced that the bottom is about to drop out of lucrative football TV contracts, which could put up to 900 of his members in the dole queue this summer.
Taylor, who fought a long battle over his union's £50m deal with the Premiership and Football League last year, said: "I always felt that the TV bubble was about to burst and a few chickens are now coming home to roost. The message has to be - and this applies particularly to the big guns - that clubs cannot expect TV money to go on for ever.
"The gravy train has come to an end because of the economic downturn and unless football is careful it will get a lot worse than this.
"The Football League must stand firm, otherwise for a lot of clubs losing this TV money will be the final straw that puts them out of business."
Troubled ITV Digital insist it will go bust by the end of the season unless it renegotiates the contract. It wants to give the Football League around £125m less than the original deal.
ITV Digital insist that the contract is not guaranteed by main shareholders Granada and Carlton, whose own Stock Exchange value is over £5billion. The League angrily rejected their offer at a board meeting yesterday and warned that the reduction would have a "catastrophic effect" on the whole game.
League chairman Keith Harris told Mirror Sport: "Nobody should be in any doubt that if this contract is not honoured there will be widespread bankruptcies in many local communities and our national game will be left devastated.
"In such circumstances Carlton, Granada and ITV Digital will bear a heavy financial and social responsibility. Players have mortgages to pay, families to support and hire purchases to meet. They are the ones who will suffer if clubs go out of business.
"People say they paid over the odds but ITV Digital signed a contract at the top of the market when they were involved in a very competitive bidding situation."
But ITV Digital last night insisted they will continue to try to renegotiate. A spokesman said: "We are committed to a constructive dialogue with the Football League. Our priority is to find a workable solution for both sides."