Leeds United's appeal against a 15-point penalty has been rejected following a meeting of Football League chairmen at a special meeting in London.

Ken Bates, the Leeds chairman, made an impassioned plea to have the sanction lifted after the club were finally granted permission to play in Coca-Cola League One after being handed back their share, but an "overwhelming" majority of chairmen voted to uphold the points deduction.

More than 75 per cent of clubs initially agreed Leeds deserved to be punished for failing to meet the Football League's strict rules on insolvency and they then agreed, by the same majority, not to reduce the penalty.

"Leeds United presented their appeal and why they thought the board was wrong," Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, said. "We then had a vote which overwhelmingly endorsed the decision that there should be a sanction.

"In a second vote the League overwhelmingly endorsed the sanction. Overwhelmingly means the vote was over 75 per cent in support of the board. Leeds are starting the new season in League One as a valued member of the league's football family but with a penalty of 15 points."

Leeds have no option other than to accept their punishment, with Lord Mawhinney confirming the club had no right to take legal action.

"We have an agreement with Leeds, signed by both the League and the club, that they will not take any legal action against us and we will not take any legal action against them," he said. "That is a standard part of the agreement that every club signs when it comes out of administration. That has not been generated for the benefit of Leeds United, we've done that in the last 40 administrations and we did in this one as well."

A Leeds statement read: "Leeds United are amazed by the perverse outcome of Thursday's meeting of Football League clubs, which defied all logic, and we believe had arisen as a result of a serious misrepresentation of fact by the board of the Football League in their presentation.

"The only winner is HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) and we believe the full ramifications of Thursday's decision will adversely affect football going forward for many years.

"'Football Family' seems to be driven by self interest.

"The club is considering its options, but in the meantime will be concentrating on starting its promotion campaign at Tranmere [Rovers] on Saturday."

Bates placed Leeds in administration with debts of £35 million before the end of last season so as not to incur a 10-point deduction for the 2007-08 campaign. Administrators KPMG then agreed to sell the club straight back to the former Chelsea chairman, despite other bids. But Bates' offer to pay off creditors at a controversial Company Voluntary Agreement meeting was legally challenged by the Inland Revenue, who were owed £7.7 million in unpaid taxes.

With the start of the new season fast approaching, administrators KPMG then decided to scrap the CVA and put the club back on the market. This prompted several other parties to make fresh offers, but Bates resubmitted his original offer and emerged victorious.

The Football League objected to the fact that Bates had retained control for a third time without a CVA meeting where creditors could vote on whether to accept an offer to repay monies owed. League rules stipulate that a club can only re-enter the competition if a sale goes ahead with a CVA meeting, unless there are "exceptional circumstances". But after protracted legal wrangling the League agreed to hand Leeds back their share (League membership), but imposed the 15-point penalty for breaching rules on insolvency.