THE topic of conversation in football at the moment seems very much to be the dispute between the Professional Footballers' Association and the Premier League and the Football League and the threat of strike action.

A lot has been written about it, a lot has been said, but I tend to believe at the moment both sides are just sparring with each other, jockeying for position.

The PFA have said they are going to ballot all members but they are not going to rush because they want their members to be aware of the full facts.

The time-span they are talking about is a couple of months.

I certainly think a couple of months is enough time for the two sides to come to an agreement.

There is little doubt the dispute is about money and when money is involved with two sides struggling to agree they always start miles apart but eventually seem to finish in agreement.

I would expect that to happen in due course.

It is worth making the point however that I certainly hope they do get to some agreement fairly quickly.

If not, everybody - players, fans, managers, clubs and television - will suffer.

The latter is important.

As I have said already, the dispute boils down to money and money from television in particular.

We touched on the saturation of football on television screens in this column a while ago, but the worrying thing is what would happen to the game if for some reason TV pulled the plug?

It is pouring a lot of money into the game and will surely not be best pleased if a strike does happen and it has no product to show for all the millions it has invested.

If TV did decide enough is enough then everybody connected with football will lose out.

In particular, the players at the top level who the PFA seem to be using to front this dispute publicly at the moment will be the ones to lose the money they are currently being paid in great amounts.

The players at the top are earning that much money coming into the game through television.

Although the PFA are using the high-profile names to get their points across, the PFA is more about the rank and file and the players in the lower divisions.

It is those players who benefit more from the PFA because the ones who are earning vast fortunes at the top do not need their support.

The amounts of money they are earning means they don't face the same problems as those at the bottom of the range.

The PFA have got a role to play and while I'm not wanting to take anyone's side I think they and everyone else involved in the dispute have to tread very carefully.

At least the time-scale being talked about seems to offer everyone some breathing space and as tempers cool it must be hoped an agreement can be reached.

It is in everyone's interest that they do.