While Burns was expected to resign, Harris was reportedly hoping that the entire board of 12 would resign and reconvene under his chairmanship as a smaller unit.
The board, however, refused to resign and Harris left with the parting shot: "I am leaving the asylum in the care of the lunatics."
The resignations, provoked by the collapse of ITV Digital's broadcast deal with the Football League, will not mark the end of the saga.
It was recently reported in The Lawyer magazine that the Football League is considering suing law firm Hammonds (formerly Hammond Suddards Edge) over the contract drawn up between the league and ITV Digital.
The Football League recently lost its court case against ITV Digital to recover the outstanding money owed by ITV Digital.
But the contract drawn up by Edge Ellison (now part of Hammonds) between itself and OnDigital, the precursor to ITV Digital, failed to mention Carlton and Granada, OnDigital's owners, as parent guarantors to the deal.
It said: "On-Digital and its shareholders will guarantee all funding to the FL [The Football League] outlined in this document."
The board now has three options: to appeal, to look into why Carlton and Granada allowed ITV Digital to go into liquidation, or to sue Hammonds.
Commenting on the resignations, Nick Wood, a business adviser at leading financial company Grand Thornton said: "The League is facing an unprecedented crisis with the announcement of the departure of their senior management, hard on the heels of the financial blows dealt by their courtroom defeat earlier this week following the collapse of the ITV Digital deal.
"The League must respond rapidly to appoint a successor management team, to create a coherent and robust strategy for restructuring the industry, stemming uncertainty and preserving the future of the game.
"It is clear that the board must provide clarity and direction to cash strapped clubs and needs to bite the bullet and address critical factors affecting competition and the game, such as spiralling wage costs."
