The footballers' union last night took the unprecedented step of issuing strike notices to all Premiership and Nationwide league clubs warning that industrial action will take place the weekend after next.

Talks on the dispute with the Premier League over television money broke down last night despite both sides offering compromise solutions.

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said: "We failed to reach an agreement and there is still a big gap between us.

"We have sent strike notices out to the chairmen of every club warning of industrial action from December 1.

"It will affect all league games, not Cup or European matches, where there are cameras either for live transmission or recorded highlights, though there is no reason why the games cannot go ahead if the television cameras are not present."

FA Barclaycard Premiership champions would be involved in the first match affected by any strike, with their Old Trafford clash with Chelsea due to kick off at midday on December 1.

Among other games to be hit that weekend would be Sunderland v. West Ham; Charlton v. Newcastle; Blackburn v. Middlesbrough; and Darlington v. York.

The Premier League will now seek a legal injunction and the matter is destined to end in the High Court. The PFA are seeking five per cent, or £36m a year, from the TV deals agreed by the Premier League, Football League and Football Association.

Yesterday's meeting featured Taylor on one side and Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore and Manchester United solicitor and director Maurice Watkins on the other.

The Premier League's final offer yesterday was for £20m a year, with the PFA having total discretion in the spending of £7m of the money.

The union lowered its demands to £27m a year on the condition they could negotiate a longer-term agreement. Neither was acceptable to the other side, and the Premier League are seething that the strike notices were apparently dispatched while negotiations were still proceeding.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore responded by issuing a statement in which he claimed the PFA were contemplating "illegal action".

"We are extremely disappointed that while continuing negotiations in good faith in the hope of finding a settlement the PFA decided to issue strike notices without our knowledge," he said.

"Throughout the talks, we have tried repeatedly to keep discussions going - not continually dragging matters into the public arena - and have suffered the adverse publicity as a result.

"Because of the PFA's action we must now respond in order to protect the game and its competitions, we will have to take all steps necessary to prevent what we consider to be illegal action."

Taylor added that a strike still remained a last option.

"The door is still open," he said. "We made what we felt was a very fair compromise in return for a longer agreement, particularly as our mandate from the members saw no reason why we should have a lesser share than five per cent. "We do have a tight deadline taking action within 28 days of the strike ballot and we have to follow our legal advice as well.

"It is 17 months since they got their new television deal and we have to protect our 4,000 current players and 50,000 former players.