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Holland on Players' Strike - Ipswich Town News

Town skipper Matt Holland has spoken about the possible impending players' strike. Holland is the club's PFA representative and hopes that strike action is avoided.

The dispute is over television money paid to the PFA. This has been set at £7.5 million, the same as last season, although a much lower percentage of the actual money coming into the game than previously.

Holland was at pains to stress that this money does not go directly to players but is part of the PFA's fund: "The PFA looks after players who may have had to retire from the game through injury or who have been released by clubs. While I was at Bournemouth the PFA paid our wages for about three months because the club was in financial difficulty and that happens quite a lot."

All players were sent a letter by the PFA six weeks ago explaining the situation and nothing has been heard since. There has been no call for a ballot as yet, however PFA chiefs meet on Sunday to discuss whether to ballot their members on strike action.

Holland is unsure which way any vote might go: "It is difficult to say how players would vote and if we did it would be a last resort."

The Irish international feels that the dispute could be settled if the PFA were offered the same percentage as last year: "I'm sure if they were to even offer the same as before it would resolve the matter quickly."

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