We believe it is a sport which has to be run as a business but owes a responsibility to its

We believe it is a sport, which has to be run as a business, but owes a responsibility to its supporters and local communities." The lesson for the Government is that the game is effectively owned and run by Premiership chairmen. However, at a further meeting on 10 December, the authorities presented the proposals published yesterday, for a body which would receive all its information from the football authorities themselves, and have no sanctions - effectively backtracking, after four months, from their own proposal. "We believe our proposals are radical and constructive and include positive proposals for the future." Dr Adam Brown, who has led much of the debate for the supporters, acknowledged that the authorities had come a long way, and that the Task Force exercise had been useful, but he said the differences were more than merely in the detail. This debacle led to the decision to call it a day and publish two separate reports. Yesterday Mike Lee, the Premier League spokesman, argued that the authorities' proposals were genuine and positive.

"English football is a great success story, but we do recognise concerns identified by the Task Force and supporters," Lee said. Craig Brewin, an FSA officer who works in public finance, produced a paper on the powers of the Audit Commission, and how these might apply to football, arguing for independence, the right to mount inspections and define performance criteria, and to have effective sanctions. It was immediately leaked and was then publicly denounced by Mike Lee, the Premier League spokesman. The authorities took four months to produce their own joint counter proposals They were also published yesterday.

Much of their proposals were too vague to satisfy the rest of the Task Force, but it did contain the idea of an Independent Scrutiny, which, said the authorities, would be "not unlike that of the British Standards Institution or the Audit Commission". According to Task Force sources, at a subsequent meeting in October, under heavy questioning about the proposed terms for this body, Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's chief executive, was forced to admit that he himself was unclear. Much of the debate has been bitter, with the football authorities often reluctant to engage with it at all. Early on, the Premier League chief executive, Peter Leaver, sought to have Mellor removed. However, the Task Force soldiered on, producing three unanimous reports; on racism, disabled access, and investment in the community. Discussions on the fourth report, directly concerning money - in the issues of ticket prices, merchandising, plcs and supporter involvement - have taken nearly a year and been more fraught. A report, apparently largely similar to the one produced by supporters yesterday, was presented to the authorities in May.