Luton will start the new League Two season with a staggering 30-point deduction.
Luton start new season with 30-point deficit
Luton will start the new League Two season with a staggering 30-point deduction.
The Hatters had 10 points deducted earlier in the summer after breaching Football Association regulations over agents fees and have had a further 20-point penalty imposed by the Football League.
Luton were hit with the latest sanction after applying to come out of administration without a CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement).
Deduction
A Football League statement read: "Luton Town were unable to agree a CVA with their creditors and as a consequence are unable to satisfy the normal conditions of the League's insolvency policy for exiting administration.
"The board decided, however, that they were prepared to exercise their absolute discretion under their 'exceptional circumstances' provisions in order to accommodate the new entity.
"In accordance with recent precedent, the board decided to include the following principle conditions of entry as a pre-requisite to the exercise of that discretion.
"1) The new company (Luton Town 2020) should pay the unsecured creditors the amount offered at the time of the CVA hearing (16 pence in the pound).
"2) A 20-point deduction should apply in the 2008-09 season, which also takes into account the fact that this is the club's third insolvency event in the last 10 years."
Mawhinney
Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney insists they had little option but to impose the penalty.
He said: "The board's primary responsibility is to protect the integrity of their competitions.
"This often means making difficult decisions which require balancing the interests of fans, the club's creditors and the other teams in the League.
"We will continue to take that responsibility very seriously."
