CHARLTON chief executive Peter Varney risks the wrath of the rest of the Premier League with the radical proposal that punitive measures be taken against clubs who fail to fill their stadiums for live televised matches.

Since the summer, Mr Varney has consistently warned that clubs will ignore the trend of falling attendances at their peril.

Now, he has called for part of the payment each club receives for televised fixtures be withheld from those who fail to ensure their grounds approach capacity for live games.

In recent seasons, Charlton have sold tickets at half-price for some home games that are live on Sky Television.

For their last live televised home game against Blackburn on September 27, the club charged adults £15 and children £5.

The pricing scheme produced an attendance of 26,121 that included hundreds of schoolchildren while 1,200 fans were turned away at the gate.

Mr Varney said: "Some people might believe this idea is too strong, but we need to take decisive action now to protect the long-term interests of the Premier League.

"The reality is that the domestic and overseas broadcasting contracts are now absolutely vital to all Premiership clubs and without them we have to accept that we are all in serious financial trouble.

"The fact is that a variety of reasons - such as the growing predictability of the league, the way supporters can watch at least 50 minutes of highlights of their team’s games on Saturday nights, shifting kick-off times at televised games and ticket prices - are causing some people to think more carefully about going to matches."

The Premiership is the most viewed league in the world and the value of the new three-year overseas broadcasting rights rose from £178m to £310m when it was renegotiated last summer.

Mr Varney added: "One of the reasons for that figure is because the Premiership is seen as exciting and packed crowds at matches are crucial to that.

"If something starts to eat away at the numbers of fans who attend matches and fewer away supporters leads to less vibrant atmosphere in stadiums, the fabric of the game starts to be affected.

"Something must be done to make sure we keep attendances at the highest possible level."

The popularity of watching live football on television, a key element of the top flight’s success, is in decline.

Viewers for the 25 live games screened before the end of October averaged 1.048 million, 22.7 per cent down on last season’s average of 1.356 million and 16.2 per cent below the 1.251 million average for the same period a year ago.