Luton Town Relegated

[vegyjones]

Definitely the biggest team to lose League Status since I have been following football.

Commiserations to Tophatter in particular. Although no doubt many conference teams will be licking their lips at playing you next season.

A great result for Grimsby, particularly after Chester's win earlier this morning. All this playing at different times is particularly unfair in my opinion, especially in the lower leagues. Can we leave that sort of thing to the Premiership please!

On a lighter nte, Orient guaranteed survival with victory at Swindon.

A few mouthwatering ties next season

Charlton
Brentford
possibly Southampton
either Leeds or Millwall (maybe both)

NICE! :D

[mathare]

A great result for Grimsby, particularly after Chester's win earlier this morning.

We've dragged Bournemouth back into the mix too, although their goal difference is much greater than ours. It's one out of us, Chester and Bournemouth to join Luton in the Conference

Pretty sure almost every team in the league would rather see Chester get relegated...

[Win2Win]

The Luton affair shows how out of touch and pathetic the FA can be.

Good luck to Luton to get straight back up. It would have been fairer if the FA had just relegated them instead of deducting points, that way they'd be looking at promotion now!

[tophatter]

It has been the cruelest of punishments that can ever have being meted out - its been 9 months of absolute torture.

It was bad enough getting minus 20 from the football league but it was the extra 10 points the F.A took off us that was the killer. The hypocricy of it all is mind boggling. We got those 10 points took off us because the incompentent bunch of cowboys who ran the club paid agents through a holding company rather than the club itself. Then just last week it looks like Southamption can actually AVOID losing any points as by a sleight of hand they have put the holding company of thier football club into Administration rather than the actual football club. How does that work eh?

Trust me on this, the F.A. and Football League dont know what they are doing and are making it up as they go along. They have made a mockery of League 2 this season. They have set precedents that will come back to haunt them - their competition next season will be a farce.

You can be sure Darlington will start off on -15 points as the rules the Football league have set up make it impossible to exit administration via a CVA. I would imagine Chester or Bournemouth and maybe two or three others will tumble into Administration anytime during that season and Be deducted 10 points and then the following season will be deducted between 15 and 20 points.

Its madness, its a mess and it means that relegation is settled by a combination of HMRC and a panel of Football league chairman who are just making it up after previous incompetent decision have led to clubs like Leicester, Derby, Leeds and the latest club Southampton making monkeys out of them. Guss clubs like Luton, Bournemouth and any other small club in trouble from cowboys exploiting them will continue to pay the price.

[MattR]

Totally agree TH. If Southampton don't get docked any points does that mean all clubs will set up a holding company now as a loophole? Bournemouth and Luton could be relegated by points deduction alone and nothing to do with what's happening on the pitch. That can't be right. Rotherham would be sitting in 2nd place now as well. There has to be a better way or at least some standardisation in penalties. For Luton to be hit with a 30 point deduction was bad enough but to throw it all at them in one season meant they might just as well have not bothered playing in the league this season.

[Win2Win]

....they might just as well have not bothered playing in the league this season.

And the fact they turned out to be one of the better teams, shows how much of a farce it is.

Maybe any Premiership club in debt should be docked 30pts at the start of each season!

[MattR]

Maybe any Premiership club in debt should be docked 30pts at the start of each season!

Yeah. First team back to zero wins!

[vegyjones]

If Luton had a decent manager (no fan of Mick Harford really) they probably would have stayed up anyway given the state of a few teams near the foot of League 2.

Barry Hearn reckons up to 10 clubs could go into Admin beofre the year is out... in fact he's counting on it to get us up to the Championship! :D

[tophatter]

Harford aint done a bad job Veg. He has had to reduce the wage bill by about 4 million pound, could not bring in any players till 48 hours before the start of the season (again thanks to the FL torturing us and not let us out of admin till then) and had to farm out player like Morgan, Parkin and Spring on loan in order to keep that wage bill down.

I cant tell you how difficult it is playing catch up with a deduction like that. I reckon you can add at least another 10 points due to the mental strain. Every poor team we play down the bottom know if they got a draw it meant they were helping use up one of the relegation spots. We have had to play kamikasie 4-3-3 football coz draws are no good. I reckon we might have had a sniff with minus 20 but the F.A stuck the boot in to us and I dont believe any team can come back from minus 30, it was just too much to handle mentally.

[vegyjones]

Well the Saints did get docked points, and now the FA have said they don't have grounds for appeal.

Seems fair enough although looks like they are going to try and fight it regardless.

[Win2Win]

I think they should be allowed to transfer that -10 to ManU :D

[MattR]

Well the Saints did get docked points, and now the FA have said they don't have grounds for appeal.

Seems fair enough although looks like they are going to try and fight it regardless.

I'm gutted



Seriously though, someone must have pocketed all their money over the last few years. They've sold a lot of players for big money (Crouch, Beattie, Walcott, Bale to name but a few). Still, after years of being high and mighty while we were struggling it's nice to see what goes around comes around. Hopefully they will finish in the bottom three anyway otherwise appeals and god knows what are going to continue into the summer and create another fiasco.

[vegyjones]

The 10 points will go onto next season if they finish in the bottom 3, so it will probably be dragged through the courts regardless. Heaven knows where they are getting the money from though :D

[MattR]

Vegy, that means the O's will be 10 points clear of bottom place before they kick a ball :D

[vegyjones]

If this recession does it's job we'll be in the play-offs :D

[Win2Win]

If this recession does it's job we'll be in the play-offs :D

The Blue Square League will allow you in the play-offs then?