Yet more woe for Luton Town

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7500435.stm

-30 points for next season!

The tragedy of all this is that the people responsible for screwing up the club have all left and have nothing to do with the people being punished.

Pretty gobsmacking really, a third successive relegation appears now to be an absolute certainty and whether or not Luton Town will actually be able to exist as a football club in the near future seems very much an unresolved issue.

Amazing how 18 months ago they were in a play-off place in the Championship and making a serious push for promotion, since then, everything really has gone to $h!t for them on and off the pitch.

Shame, really. They might have done some dodgy things but they don't deserve this.

Saw that. very vicious deduction, feel for the fans. used to know a Luton fan, who was a excellent chap, winding up all the Liverpool fans around the time of that f.a. cup game. Dropping out the league would be a massive blow.

Maybe they'll get it reduced on appeal.

I do not see how this sort of penalty ultimately helps the club, if the club is run poorly financially speaking, how is that the fault of the players / manager / fans - who will suffer most?

There has to be a better solution than the point deduction...

debaser wrote:Maybe they'll get it reduced on appeal.

They don't have that option. The FA have already informed them that this won't be possible as it is the third time they have gone into administration.

Also you cannot be a club in administration outside the football league. So if they don't find a new owner and are relegated next season, they will effectively fold.

The most they can possibly appeal against is the original 10 point deduction, so at best they'll still start the season on -20 and need play-off form with what is a pretty hopeless squad anyway to stay up, personally i doubt they'll even break 0. They may even fold during the season as I have no idea where they hope to get money with which to pay their players and staff their salaries.

It is amazing when you look back to the start of the 05/06 season where they finished 10th in the c/ship after a cheeky flirt with the playoffs and at the players they had at the time:

Curtis Davies
Leon Barnett
Carlos Edwards
Rowan Vine
Steve Howard
Kevin Nicholls

all of whom are high-level championship to low-level premiership players.

How as a manager do you even begin to contemplate the idea not being relegated. Even if they start in record breaking form they aren't going to be out of the relegation zone before Christmas at the very best.

Dwarf wrote:How as a manager do you even begin to contemplate the idea not being relegated. Even if they start in record breaking form they aren't going to be out of the relegation zone before Christmas at the very best.

It will be a major major blow to their confidence. I mean Leeds had a lot to over come but this is something else, its going to be a very very long hard season for Luton. It would be a real shame if they went down cos they dont deserve it, teams should be relegated cos they are not good enough not cos of things that occur off the pitch and if these points deductions are to be enforced then i dont think they should be any more than -10 points, to start on -30 is simply wrong.

The thing is that Luton aren't good enough anyway because they can't afford to employ any real standard of player - even without their penalties last season they would have finished 2nd bottom.

To be honest i'd be suprised if they finished outside the league 2 drop-zone even if you disregarded their 30 point penalty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7507736.stm

Luton Town have lost their appeal against a 10-point penalty for financial irregularities.

Rasiak-9 wrote:The most they can possibly appeal against is the original 10 point deduction, so at best they'll still start the season on -20 and need play-off form with what is a pretty hopeless squad anyway to stay up, personally i doubt they'll even break 0. They may even fold during the season as I have no idea where they hope to get money with which to pay their players and staff their salaries.

It is amazing when you look back to the start of the 05/06 season where they finished 10th in the c/ship after a cheeky flirt with the playoffs and at the players they had at the time:

Curtis Davies
Leon Barnett
Carlos Edwards
Rowan Vine
Steve Howard
Kevin Nicholls

all of whom are high-level championship to low-level premiership players.

Apart from Howard and Nicholls who are pub footballers

Even as a Watford fan I find the decision incredibly harsh.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:

Rasiak-9 wrote:The most they can possibly appeal against is the original 10 point deduction, so at best they'll still start the season on -20 and need play-off form with what is a pretty hopeless squad anyway to stay up, personally i doubt they'll even break 0. They may even fold during the season as I have no idea where they hope to get money with which to pay their players and staff their salaries.

It is amazing when you look back to the start of the 05/06 season where they finished 10th in the c/ship after a cheeky flirt with the playoffs and at the players they had at the time:

Curtis Davies
Leon Barnett
Carlos Edwards
Rowan Vine
Steve Howard
Kevin Nicholls

all of whom are high-level championship to low-level premiership players.

Apart from Howard and Nicholls who are pub footballers

Even as a Watford fan I find the decision incredibly harsh.

Steve Howard scored 18 goals in a promotion winning side season before last and Kevin Nicholls is perfectly good at c/ship level. Granted neither of them were what i would consider premiership standard - although Edwards, Barnett and Davies probably are

They should have signed Boylan