It was not the scenario that Shaun Goater envisaged when he agreed to become the Manchester City player representative at the start of the season, but the goalscoring ace has resigned himself to the reality that English football will become embroiled in an historic first strike in nine days' time.

With the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) locked in dispute over television revenue with the FA Premier League and the Football League, the players were put on notice yesterday that the strike will go ahead, leaving the Premiership match between Manchester United and Chelsea, scheduled to be televised by British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) at noon British Standard Time on December 1, as the first to feel the sting.

"It looks as though it's going ahead," Goater said yesterday. "Gordon Taylor's made statements giving clubs a week's notice of televised games. The voting has taken place and the players have voted that they will strike if called upon. If he's given a week's notice, then it's a case of the players now following up."

Taylor, the PFA chief executive, said on Tuesday that the strike will affect all league games where there are cameras, either for live transmission or recorded highlights. This throws a blanket over all of English football because of the highlights package that features goals from the lower divisions.

The PFA is taking action because the authorities, after a series of talks, refused to agree to the union's reduced demands of ?27 million a year, a climbdown from the initial request of ?36 million, or five per cent, provided that it could have a deal for more than three years.

The final offer from the FA Premier League, which runs the Premiership, and the Football League, which governs the affairs of the three lower divisions, was ?20 million a year, but for three years only.

Developments yesterday saw the FA Premier League insist that a settlement be negotiated but Taylor said there is nothing left to discuss. "It is extremely important to hold our ground now," he said. "We feel it is time to draw the line."

Goater believes that Taylor and his men are right to stand firm, even in the face of a High Court injunction, which Richard Scudamore, the FA Premier League chief executive, has threatened the union leader with.

"Yes, (?60 million over three years) is a great deal and a lot of money has come into the game," he said. "But I don't see why just because so much money has come into the game, the PFA should not get the same money it received five or 10 years ago. If everybody else is benefiting from the increase in money, I don't see why the body of all the players can't benefit as well."

It will be Goater's task to pass on information to his colleagues, who, though committed to the union cause, are treading uncharted territory. "Most of them are pretty aware but you have to sit them down and let them know where everything stands at the moment and field one or two questions," he said. "They are guarded as to how they want to go about it. My thinking is that we'll show up to games and the bigwigs will say, 'Cameras! We can't have them but the game must go on'.

"To be honest, I never thought it would come to this. They probably looked at the schedule and thought that it was sufficient time to renegotiate and if it doesn't come about, that's a good game to choose ... two big teams, known around the world, and that would have a big impact to show the people that they're having discussions with that they mean business.

"The last thing footballers want is to have a strike but it looks like that's the way it's going. You start to think now for the fans. Just like every normal fan, I would assume that three-quarters of the players have Sky for looking at games. But it now comes to the point where they're saying that we have to look out for the benefit of players that get injured and players who want to take up coaching courses. This is where the money is circulated."

Goater recently turned down an offer made by Taylor to join the PFA management committee.

"I was surprised. I was wondering what had I done to be put in line for this," he said. "There are a number of players throughout England looking for that sort of job once they look to retire or are at the end of their career.

"Perhaps another two years down the road I would have taken it. In one sense it would have been so nice to have a foot in the door because of the avenues it could open for Bermuda. Having a Bermudian in the PFA, the contacts over this side would have been so good for Bermuda, but it is too early and I had to decline."