Ken Bates, the Leeds United chairman, called for the Football League board to resign en masse after an independent tribunal upheld the 15-point penalty imposed at the start of the season.

Leeds claimed that the League acted unlawfully when docking the points as punishment for breaking competition rules on insolvency. However, an independent panel disagreed and criticised the Coca-Cola League One club for the length of time it had taken to bring the action. That fuelled Bates’s ire and he pointed the finger at Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, as well as his fellow club chairmen, whom he accused of being governed by self-interest. “The Football League board and Lord Mawhinney should consider their position and possibly resign because the manner in which they have behaved is disgraceful,” Bates said.

Leeds were docked ten points for going into administration at the end of last season. They then accepted a further 15-point penalty for not exiting administration via a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), subject to an appeal to other League clubs. Not surprisingly, more than 75 per cent voted for the extra penalty. “There is more than one club who voted for the 15 points because it would handicap us,” Bates said. He added that he was looking forward to meeting Paul Scally, the Gillingham chairman, at the final match of the season tomorrow. Leeds are guaranteed a play-off place but Gillingham could be relegated. “Mr Scally was very mouthy when he went on Sky TV and said he had studied the facts very carefully,” Bates said.

The decision means that Swansea City are confirmed as champions. Had Leeds received the 15 points back they would have leapt from sixth to second, one point adrift of the Welsh club and pushing their Yorkshire rivals, Doncaster Rovers, out of an automatic promotion place. Roberto Martínez, the Swansea manager, had predicted “a massive war” if the Leeds appeal was successful.

However, Bates told anyone celebrating Leeds’s misfortune that he had a long memory and that other clubs would find themselves in the same predicament. Leeds effectively were damned because the Inland Revenue refused to accept the CVA because it was owed £7.7 million. However, Bates said: “We have been penalised by the Football League for adhering to their policy of paying all football creditors.”

Bournemouth, Rotherham United and Luton Town are also in administration and Bates claimed: “Two of them cannot complete a CVA because of the Inland Revenue. What’s the Football League going to do now?”

Leeds said they had no choice but to accept the 15-point penalty in August. “If we had not, the club would have been lost for ever,” a statement read.

Stephen Hornsby, a sports law expert with Davenport Lyons, said: “The League was entitled to kick them out. They said, ‘Here’s 15 points’ and Ken Bates said, ‘All right’, but then he went running off to court. In rugby union Richmond went bust during the season and were demoted nine divisions. If that is one end of the scale, then 15 points is the other.”