Legal teams take to the football field to thrash out standard player's contract

Sports Law: kick-around of ideas to bring footballers' contracts into the television age

Lawyers representing English football's leading bodies have committed to collective negotiating to establish a new standard player's contract for professional footballers in the next two to three months.The Gazette has learned that legal teams representing the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), Premier League, Football League and Football Association have resolved to turn their attention back to this matter after it was put back on the agenda after the tense negotiations over the PFA's share of television money.The PFA's solicitor, John Hewison, a partner at Manchester firm George Davis, said: 'It was decided last year that a fundamental overhaul of the player's contract was needed, as football has changed so much in the ten years or so since it was drawn up.

The need to resolve issues over TV rights meant it was put on the back-burner, but now it is top of the agenda and we are looking to finalise details by next spring at the latest.'All footballers sign a standard contract which has provision for extra clauses to be added; there have been talks to revise it for several years, but these have failed because of a lack of agreement.Mr Hewison said that image rights of players and trademarks were 'very much in the minds of the big clubs' and would inevitably play a major role in the make-up of the contract.'All aspects of the commercial rights of a player will have to be addressed,' he said.

'It has to be established to what degree a club can use a player's reputation and image to make money.

For example, it is okay for selling photos, but putting a player's name on bottles of wine, golf clubs or ladies' knickers would probably fall outside the terms of the contract.' Negotiating on behalf of the football clubs is Michael Jepson, a partner at London firm Gordon Dadds, a director of Coventry City and a member of the Premier League legal working party.'We are expecting to get together with the PFA in the next week as finalising the contract as soon as possible is very much in the interest of all parties,' he said.

'We hope to adopt a standard contract for the whole of the professional game covering all basic rights including those concerning a player's image.

Any arrangements not covered in the contract will be ad hoc with the player.'Andrew Towler