IN a dispute over money it is difficult for the public to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of David Beckham, Roy Keane and Alan Shearer, who earn tens of thousands of pounds every week.

But it is important that the dispute between the Professional Footballers' Association and the game's authorities over television money is not characterised as an attempt by super-rich stars to line their pockets even further.

Not one of the 2,290 players who support strike action stand to gain a penny from the confrontation. All the PFA's money from television rights goes into education and welfare programmes, helping deprived communities and many former players who have fallen on hard times.

The strike vote can be interpreted as a commendable and principled stand by trade unionists looking after the interests of their colleagues.

In which case, it is the Football Association, the Football League and the Premier League who can be portrayed as the bad boys for seeking to reduce the proportion of TV money going to the PFA.

But a strike will serve no purpose. It will only alienate the players, the authorities and the game itself from its fans in the stands and those watching on their TVs at home.

In the end the very people to suffer, when TV rights money dries up, may well be the injured footballers forced into early retirement, or the young players who fail to make the grade.

The dispute is likely to be resolved through compromise to everyone's satisfaction. It is a pity that the unprecedented threat of industrial action has to overshadow our national sport before common sense prevails.