EPL fixtures list decided by TV broadcasters: Ferguson

Television has too much power over English soccer, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said on Monday.

In a television interview with BBC North West Tonight, Ferguson said rights holders rather than clubs were in control of the fixtures list.

"When you shake hands with the devil you have to pay the price," he said. "Television is God at the moment. It's king.

"It shows itself quite clearly because when you see the fixture lists come out now, they can pick and choose whenever they want the top teams on television.

"You get some ridiculous situations when you're playing on Wednesday night in Europe and then at lunchtime the following Saturday. You ask any manager if they would pick that themselves and there'd be no chance."

Asked if television had too much power, he replied: "Oh, absolutely, yes."

English champions United regularly have their games shown on television and last season received 60.4 million pounds ($93.9 million)in Premier League broadcast revenue -- the most of any of the top-flight clubs according to figures released by the league.

Ferguson, however, said that it was not enough in view of the fact the league had sold the product to 200 countries.

"When you think of that, I don't think we (clubs) get enough money," he said.

Top flight clubs broke away from Football League to create the Premier League in 1992 in order to attract greater revenue from television.