York City chairman John Batchelor is prepared to 'bankrupt the Football League' in the wake of the failed court case against Carlton and Granada.

The whole fiasco surrounding the television deal with the now defunct ITV Digital service and the resultant court case against the parent companies - Carlton and Granada - has left Batchelor, and a number of club chairmen, fuming.

Batchelor, who only took over the hot seat at Bootham Crescent in March, is now consulting lawyers in a bid to recoup the £250,000 City have lost from the Football League itself, claiming they have been negligent in first signing the deal and then pursuing the court case.

Should fellow chairman, like Millwall's Theo Paphitis who has already voiced his anger, join any legal action to bring the Football League crashing down, Batchelor feels this would give clubs the ideal opportunity to restructure the current set-up.

But as well as a change to the league, City's top man believes the time would be right to potentially even modify football itself.

Among Batchelor's ideas are:

Five up and five down from each division

No more draws, with golden goals to decide tied games

An abolishment of offsides

Speaking to the Evening Press today, Batchelor fumed: "I'm not happy at all with the outcome of the court case.

"What we are looking at is suing the Football League as I believe they have been negligible in agreeing this deal and they have compounded it by entering into a multi-million pound court case which we are all paying for.

"If other clubs want to follow our lead and it bankrupts the league then fine, that would give us the perfect opportunity to restructure the present set-up.

"We need to try to get something positive from this and we can do this by restructuring the league.

"This is just one view from 72 clubs, but I'd like to see five up and five down in each division so that the in-form sides benefit.

"I think the concept of a draw should be abandoned so games go to golden goals. There is nothing worse for fans than a game ending goalless.

"And I would like the abolishment of the offside rule. It is about keeping the fans entertained and giving them value for money.

"The Football League is so tied to its history that it doesn't seem capable of change let alone marketing itself."

With the court case failing, Batchelor believes League chief executive David Burns and chairman Keith Harris should be held accountable.

"David Burns and Keith Harris have made a cock-up of this," he railed. "I know they weren't in charge when the deal was signed, but they are in the hot seats now and it is the League I'm p***** off with.

"I couldn't care less (about a possible a disrepute charge).

"As the chairman of Millwall (Theo Paphitis) said 'This is a billion-pound business, but I wouldn't trust them to run a kebab shop.' I agree, I wouldn't even trust them to sit the right way round on the toilet.

"This has cost York City £250,000 and as the 100 per cent shareholder, it is me who has to pay. Wouldn't you be angry in this situation?"

Having joined Paphitis in breaking ranks, Batchelor will now be meeting with lawyers over the course of the next few days, before a potential showdown with the Football League.

"I will be meeting with our lawyers as we need to be sure about this, but I've been told we have got a good case for negligence," he added. "I then hope to meet with the Football League in the next week."

Updated: 15:04 Friday, August 02, 2002