Sir Alex Ferguson claims football has sold soul to TV 'devil'

that broadcasters do not pay enough money given the amount of control they exert over the game.

The Manchester United manager used his first in-depth BBC interview for almost a decade to berate the corrosive influence of television on the fixture list, despite the hundreds of millions of pounds it contributes to Manchester United's bottom line and its centrality to the business plan of the club's controversial owners.

"When you shake hands with the devil you have to pay the price. Television is God at the moment," said Ferguson, who agreed that broadcasters had "too much power". "It shows itself quite clearly because when you see the fixture lists come out now, they can pick and choose whenever they want the top teams on television," he added.

"You get some ridiculous situations when you're playing on Wednesday night in Europe and then at lunchtime the following Saturday. You ask any manager if they would pick that themselves and there'd be absolutely no chance."

Ferguson also said that broadcasters should pay more for the rights to live football, given the Premier League sold its product to more than 200 countries. "When you think of that I don't think we get enough money," he said.

The Premier League secured around £3.5bn from its most recent round of television deals, which run until the end of next season. About £2.1bn was generated from domestic rights sales, including about £1.8bn for live rights from BSkyB and ESPN, and £1.4bn from overseas broadcasters.

BSkyB refused to comment on Ferguson's observations but sports broadcasting insiders pointed out that Ferguson's views did not reflect the fact that each club must be shown live a minimum of 10 times and a maximum of 26, nor that other factors affected the scheduling of matches. They include policing issues and the ongoing tussle over the fixture calendar between domestic football bodies, Uefa and Fifa.

"Sir Alex's comments always have to be taken seriously – he is a very wise and experienced football man," Brian Barwick, a former FA chief executive and controller of sport at ITV, told the BBC.

"But on this one, I do think Manchester United have almost had a lion's share of TV revenue over a period of time and it has helped build a fantastic stadium in Old Trafford and helped build Sir Alex's teams with star players." Others pointed to the explosion in broadcasting income over the past two decades and the degree to which it drives Manchester United's commercial strategy, which relies on international TV exposure to drive its global sponsorship strategy.

Under the Premier League's distribution formula, which includes an equal share plus a merit payment and facility fees depending on the number of times each club is shown, Manchester United earned £60.4m from domestic TV last season.

The club's most recent financial results, to the year ending June 2011, showed that media income amounted to the club's biggest revenue stream, bringing in £119.4m. Commercial income, increasingly driven by overseas exposure on TV, rose to £103.4m from £81.4m the previous year.

The global reach afforded to the club by TV has been claimed as a major driver behind the plan to float a minority stake in Manchester United on the Singapore stock exchange.

The Football Supporters' Federation backed Ferguson's stance, albeit for different reasons. "The contract with Sky and ESPN ought to leave more control with the Premier League over the fixture calendar," said its chairman, Malcolm Clarke. "They should try and minimise the disruption to the number of matches being played on Saturday at 3pm. And they should be trying to minimise the number of long journeys for supporters on a Monday night.

"If you gave the Premier League more control, it might reduce the value of the rights in the marketplace but that should be a price football is prepared to pay."

Despite Ferguson's comments, there is no suggestion that the Glazers are planning to try to break away from the Premier League's collective selling model in order to maximise revenues.

In contrast to Spain, where the big two clubs do their own deals with television companies, the Premier League's income is shared out on a more equitable basis. Real Madrid recorded £129.9m in media revenues and Barcelona £145.8m, according to to the 2011 Deloitte Money League. United were the Premier League's highest earners last year, with and Blackpool the lowest with £39.1m.

The Glazers are believed to be convinced of the merits of the collective model but are determined to better exploit the limited rights that clubs have within their control by signing deals with international telecom and media companies.

In remarks that are likely to come as little surprise to those who have been on the receiving end of the Scot's famously fiery temper, David Beckham and Paul Ince included, Ferguson also admitted in the same interview: "I'm a confrontational character. I don't like people arguing back with me. I maybe have a short fuse."