Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has defended his stance on overseas television revenue but stressed the club has no intention of 'damaging the league'.

Ayre came in for widespread criticism for comments earlier this week when he suggested England's biggest clubs should receive a greater share of the money from international TV rights.

The Reds managing director had said: 'If you're in Kuala Lumpur there isn't anyone subscribing to Astro, or ESPN to watch Bolton; the large majority are subscribing because they want to watch Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal.

Smile for the camera: Liverpool have opened up a debate on TV rights

'So is it right that the international rights are shared equally between all the clubs?'

However, he claims his comments have been misinterpreted as the early stages of a bid by the club to go it alone in terms of negotiating their own deals in future.

'What I said - and what we were trying to put forward and the debate we have been trying to open up - is not about Liverpool trying to break away and sell their own rights,' he said. 'At the moment the way the rights are sold collectively is great and generates a significant amount of revenue.

'However, the way those values are distributed is an issue. Domestic rights are half of the total and they take 50 per cent and share it equally and the other 50 per cent is distributed on how many times you feature on TV and where you finish in the league.

'However, internationally the figure is just divided by 20 and I don't think that is right. The bigger clubs have a bigger appeal overseas and I think that is an issue.

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