Fulham have announced their intention to take their bid to oust Premier League chairman Sir David Richards to the Court of Appeal.
The Cottagers are to challenge a High Court judgement which called for their dispute to be settled by arbitration.
Mr Justice Vos granted Richards and the Premier League a stay on the legal action taken against them on Wednesday.
Fulham want Richards removed as they allege he scuppered their plans to sign Peter Crouch in July 2009.
While the judge refused to side with the Cottagers, he did leave the verdict open to appeal and the Premier League outfit plan to take up that option.
A statement released by the club read: “The High Court today ruled that Fulham could not proceed by way of court action in respect of the matters complained of by Fulham in its Unfair Prejudice Petition, issued in April this year, against Sir David Richards and the Premier League.
“Although it ruled that Fulham must pursue its complaints by way of private arbitration under the Premier League and Football Association rules, the High Court also gave Fulham permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, recognising that there was a previous High Court decision in another case that came to a different conclusion on similar issues, and that an important point of law was involved.
“Fulham intends to take its case to the Court of Appeal so that this important issue can be resolved in its favour.”
In earlier granting Richards and the Premier League a stay, Mr Justice Vos said in his judgment: “The arbitrators will have adequate powers to deal with Fulham’s complaint properly, fairly and satisfactorily, and it would be extremely desirable for all concerned if they were permitted to do so without further d
Richards’ removal is one of two possible outcomes sought by Fulham, the other being a ban on his involvement in future transfers.
Fulham are claiming that Richards interfered with their bid to buy England striker Crouch, who ended up joining Tottenham for £9million, £2million less than they were reportedly willing to pay.
Richards allegedly intervened because Spurs were prepared to offer Portsmouth a lump sum up front at a time when the south coast club’s very existence was under threat, while Fulham were thought to be planning to pay in instalments.
The Cottagers believe Richards broke both Football Association and Premier League rules and failed to act fairly by promoting the interests of one club over another.
