Thursday, April 23, 2009

Breaking News: Saints receive their penance

As expected, Southampton will be docked 10 points for breaching league rules about insolvency. It's a big blow for the Saints, as they now have absolutely no chance of avoiding relegation (they were 4 points from safety with 2 to play).

One weird note: if they manage to finish out of the relegation spots somehow, the deduction is put in effect, but should they drop, the penalty will be applied next season as they battle in League One. I don't remember that being the standard, but it bears keeping in mind for the team as they still have something to fight for this season.

More importantly, this means that Norwich must focus on one thing, as two relegation spots are effectively set: the mission to overtake Barnsley! Come on, Canaries!

[BBC News]

6 comments:

Bigus Dickus said...

Or Plymouth....Camon Hoops, Camon Wolves (never thought i'd say that.

Precious Roy said...

This seems a bit overly-punitive. Like: If you survive, we're going to fuck you this year. If you fail, we're going to fuck you next year. Don't think punishments should be contingent on results.

Bigus Dickus said...

@PR. To be honest they deserve everything they get. Not the fans, its cruel, but what their board did and how they gambled and planned to avoid this by playing the system needs to warrant a tough punishment. If not Luton, Bournmouth etc will cry foul and other clubs may try to do what they did to avoid punishment. That said, I was hoping to avoid all this til the end of the season. Keep Saints alive so they remain competitive against Forest on the last day.

Precious Roy said...

Didn't say they don't deserve to be docked points, just think it should have been definitive. Either: you're getting docked 10 points this season, or you're starting 10 in the hole next season. Not contingent on anything that happens with the remainder of this season. Just my $.02.

Bigus Dickus said...

They tried to play the system and this is the FA saying, we see what you were doing so you are screwed either way.

EbullientFatalist said...

Like ATD posted today about Leeds, every team knows there's a sold blueprint of how to run a club and how to run a club into the ground. I reserve no mercy for those clubs that finagle their finances to the point where each gate receipt is used to pay for a week of operations. Sorry, Le Tissier, but So'ton got proper fucked - and deserved it.