Setanta is looking to the Premier League to help it secure more games from 2010 but its first challenge is to come up with the deposit on the package it has secured. Reportedly a deposit of up to 5% of the £392m (E442m) deal will be due with the League early this week.

Both the Premier League and Sky are believed to be implacably opposed to the idea of re-opening the auction or re-selling the matches to Setanta. The Irish pay-TV operation may take its case to UK media watchdog Ofcom and competition authorities in Brussels. But Sky would argue that the margin by which it was defeated was so narrow, that Setanta’s error was one of judgment rather than a result of unfair competition.

The deadline for lodging a deposit with the Premier League will send a clear signal about

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