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Today the Football League should have been receiving a cheque for £89.25 million instead they are left looking rather foolish for failing to insist that a guarantee from Carlton and Granada was included in the signed contract when such a guarantee formed part of the bid document.
The case turned on the fact that the guarantee was not in the contract with Carlton and Granada claiming not to know that a guarantee for £315 million had been made in their name.
In a statement issued after the ruling the Football League said that the presence of this guarantee was 'instrumental in ITV Digital's bid for Football League television rights being successful.'
If it really was 'instrumental' one wonders how on earth they managed to leave it out of the contract.
There is the possibility of the League launching an appeal but frankly there seems little point on wasting further money on pursuing Carlton and Granada when the prospects of success are so low. A leading media lawyer said that the League's case was 'terribly weak' when they launched the action back in May and it is estimated that the League will have spent around £1 million bringing the case to court.
If there is to be a further court case it could even be the Football League itself in the dock as at least one chairman has threatened to take action against them for not including the guarantee in the contract.
For their part the Football League are said to be considering suing the law firm that helped them draw up the contract.
Burnley have had a close connection to the Football League throughout the years with Charles Sutcliffe and Bob Lord serving with distinction on its management committee.
One wonders what they would have made of this whole sorry mess where football is the loser, when the Football League is at least partly responsible for it.