GORDON Taylor received a boost from a Wanderers legend today as he prepared to lead England's footballers in a strike over TV money.

Tommy Banks, the abrasive former Bolton and England defender, stepped into the cotroversy with a determination that revived memories of his own contribution in 1960 when professional footballers first put muscle into their "freedom" fight and succeeded in getting the maximum wage scrapped.

Players will vote on Monday in the PFA's ballot for strike action to force the Premier League and Nationwide League to hand over £25 million - the customary five per cent - of this year's TV revenue. They have been offered £10 million a year for the next three years.

Banks supports the union and reckons: "A players' strike over this situation would be fully justified and the players, especially the Premiership millionaires, must give Gordon every support they can."

He added: "Gordon Taylor is doing a great job for the players and looks after those who are not as well off as the Premiership superstars.

"Those who begrudge the players their contracted rights in this TV argument should have their argument turned against them and the people at the top in football should be asked where is all this money going that has been flooding into the game in the last few years? Sure, the players have had increased money but that is only a fraction of the fortunes that have been given to the game by TV and sponsorship."

Banks, who was at last night's Bolton Wanderers Former Players Association dinner to honour his old rival John Charles, said cuttingly: "People who don't even know the shape of a football have come out of the woodwork to be associated with the game at an executive level since the flood of new money has arrived and the cock up over affairs like Wembley have shown how much they know.

"But Gordon Taylor is respected the world over for his knowledge of football and football politics and he has carried the torch magnificently that was lit by Jimmy Hill, Cliff Lloyd and others in the early days.

"We hear a lot about the £60,000 a week players but the majority of Nationwide League players have wages down to as little as £300 a week and some can struggle to pay their mortgages.

"It is for these guys - the grass roots of the pro game - that we should stand firm behind Gordon Taylor's bid to see the players are not cheated of the five per cent TV payout.

"It we have to strike then so be it. Let's see where the suits stand when they see that we mean to get our rights. Gordon Taylor is a good man, doing a fantastic job seeing that lower division clubs keep paying their players when they are in administration, helping with education of youngsters, giving grants for ex players to have hip replacement operations and such."

He may be regarded by some as a football "dinosaur" these days but Banks has always been a realist and had a ready answer to the critics at the historic 1960 meeting at Belle Vue when Stanley Matthews' argued that footballers were treated like serfs.

The critic said they should not have more than the £12 a week his father received for working down the pit.

Banks replied: "Tell your dad that if he can mark brother Matthews successfully from 3pm until 20 to five then I'll do his shift for him."