Ken Bates' formal complaint about his old club Chelsea has landed at the Football Association and every club in the land will watch closely as the case unfolds.
The Leeds United chairman wants football's authorities to investigate his allegations that Chelsea made illegal approaches and offered inducements to three players in the schoolboy ranks at Elland Road.
The champions are alleged to have poached Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo, both aged 16, from Leeds earlier this year and to have made an unsuccessful attempt for a third player, Danny Rose.
Chelsea deny doing anything wrong. They insist their swoop for Woods and Taiwo was within the rules and accept they will have to pay some compensation, even if it is ends up being fixed by a tribunal.
Bates claims it is not about the money and he is pursuing the issue on a point of principle because he wants to stop Chelsea riding roughshod over the rest of football.
And he insists it is not part of a personal vendetta against the club he sold to Roman Abramovich three years ago.
Chairmen around the country will look on with interest because it could become a test case for all clubs who lose promising scholars to bigger and richer clubs.
Football League rules state any complaint concerning a Premier League club must be referred to the FA.
Officials from the two leagues and the FA must now get their heads together and decide the best way to proceed with the complaint.
They must consider how to finalise the amount of compensation due to Leeds for Woods and Taiwo - Bates has already rejected an offer of £200,000 and demanded £24 million.
The authorities must also decide how to deal with the disciplinary side of the complaint.
Bates has called for Chelsea to be deducted points, thrown out of competitions and suspended from the transfer market because he says financial penalties have no effect on a club with a billionaire benefactor.
Chelsea have a three-point suspended penalty hanging over them for their dealings with Arsenal defender Ashley Cole last year but this will not automatically be triggered if they are found guilty of wrongdoing in this case.
Leeds allege Chelsea are in breach of the Premier League's rules concerning youth development.
