CHAIRMAN Rupert Lowe shrugged his shoulders with resignation today after Saints and the smaller Premiership clubs suffered a bloody nose at the hands of the league's fat cats.

The day after the likes of Manchester United, Leeds and Everton blocked a bid for a fairer split of the new £1.6billion television deal, which would have divided income more fairly among the league's 20 clubs, Lowe insisted: "I'm a democrat, so I'm not disappointed when you lose a fair vote."

Bryan Richardson, chairman of Coventry City, brought a motion requesting a fairer split of the new riches, which will flow next season with live games on BSkyB and highlights on ITV.

However, Richardson failed to secure the 14 votes needed for victory, with Everton, Leeds United, Aston Villa and Derby County joining forces with Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle United and West Ham United to give the big clubs a 10 votes to nine win.

He told The Times newspaper. "One or two who said they would support me did not."

Half the current television income is split evenly among the 20 clubs, but 25 per cent is divided in merit payments depending on where each club finishes in the league and the other 25 per cent on the number of live television games involving each club.

Despite the defeat, Saints chairman expressed himself pleased that the Premiership's elite were at least prepared to talk about the issue.