IT'S fast turning into the week from hell for Football Federation Australia chief Ben Buckley and his management team, with club owners threatening legal action, talk of breakaway leagues and demands for greater consultation from the men bankrolling the business.

Gold Coast United boss Clive Palmer's incendiary television appearance on Monday night has lifted the lid on simmering tensions between the game's fiscal stakeholders and its management.

Brendan Schwab. Credit:James Brickwood

At its heart lies the demand for greater transparency.

Yesterday, the chief executive of the players' union, Brendan Schwab, joined the calls for FFA to be more transparent in the way it conducts its financial dealings in the wake of the news that another billionaire club boss, Nathan Tinkler, was considering litigation against FFA following the revelation that he had paid millions more to purchase the Newcastle Jets' licence than Palmer had in establishment fees for Gold Coast.