Southampton docked 10 points...

Tute · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:20

Southampton will be relegated from the Championship after being docked 10 points by the Football League.

The penalty comes after the club's parent company went into administration at the start of April.

I don't understand this part though...

If they do not avoid finishing in the bottom three then the points penalty will take effect next season.

Why does this happen? Surely that is ridiculously unfair? The FA should either penalise them now, or next season - not "wait and see".

monkeyspank · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:23

It's meant to be a punishment. If they are going to be relegated anyway then a 10 point deduction in that season means absolutely nothing.

Bit harsh for Southampton, as far as I can see they are still solvent but their parent company has gone bang.

Admiral Huddy · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:25

The whole thing stinks really .

a1ex2001 · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:28

I suspect there will be an appeal made by the administrators as the FA are not following the rules they have written down and it seriously effects the value of SLH (The Parent Company) as the club represents one of there major assets. This could drag on and on and be even more laughable than the West Ham affair. When will the FA learn about not dabbling in the Law for pitty's sake they even let a Norwich director sit on the panel making the decision!

Slogan · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:29

I wonder is Le Tissier laughing now.

a1ex2001 · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:49

Slogan said:
I wonder is Le Tissier laughing now.

More likely crying

Shamikebab · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:55

Bye Southampton

Tunney · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:38

Why does this happen? Surely that is ridiculously unfair? The FA should either penalise them now, or next season - not "wait and see".

Blame cheeky clubs like Leeds who held off administration until they were almost certainly relegated so that the penalty didn't mean anything.

drunkenmaster · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:54

in two minds about if its "fair" or not. The whole when to dock the points is fair, its supposed to be a punishment and quite rightly if they finish in the bottom three its not any kind of punishment. Officially there should be a little less cash from finishing say 3rd bottom instead of rock bottom, but in that league at that end the difference is minimal.
It seems right they get docked next year "if" the points make no difference this year.

But I don't know if the parent company is anything other than a way around the rules. IE does the parent company actually own many business's completely separate to Southampton, or was it created in the hope it would insulate the club from debt as they can pretend its the other company with all the debt, I don't know the answer to that one. if its officially a proper company then I guess it comes down to why that company is in administration.

Dunno, its a difficult situation really, in all likelyhood if the club is losing money and thats largely the reason for the parent company being in administration then it makes no difference. Harsh maybe, but theres nothing stopping clubs from running on less money. Though I'm sure wage caps to keep a handle on the top end wages would also filter down to lower wages for other players which would help pretty much all clubs.

Red and White · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:56

Slogan said:
I wonder is Le Tissier laughing now.

not just me that thinks hes a **** then

atpbx · 23 Apr 2009 at 18:27

monkeyspank said:
It's meant to be a punishment. If they are going to be relegated anyway then a 10 point deduction in that season means absolutely nothing.

Bit harsh for Southampton, as far as I can see they are still solvent but their parent company has gone bang.

Its the fairest way, southampton still get a say in their fate, they pull their finger out, win their last 2, beat the drop, get docked ten points and start level with everyone else next year in div 1, or they dont, the get sent down and then start on minus ten.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 23 Apr 2009 at 18:30

Bad times. Could have kept the decision quite though. Afterall, it is still possible for us to survive this season. Say the decision was kept quiet, the players could at least fight because they might stay in the division. Then we'd get the 10 point penalty this season and it wouldn't affect us next season.

The way its been done it doesn't matter what we do, as we're down either way. Players are going to be shot to hell in terms of morale and I very much doubt now that we'll do enough to stay up statistically, meaning we're going to be starting next season on -10.

Don't understand why they can wait to see when they deduct the points though really. Seems extremely unfair and its not punishing the club as much, its punishing the fans carrying it on into next season.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 23 Apr 2009 at 18:31

atpbx said:
Its the fairest way, southampton still get a say in their fate, they pull their finger out, win their last 2, beat the drop, get docked ten points and start level with everyone else next year in div 1, or they dont, the get sent down and then start on minus ten.

Not much chance of that happening now though is there. Most of our players won't even be here next season so why would they give a ****.

Uriel · 23 Apr 2009 at 18:38

Excellent decision to be honest. It sets a precident that will stop clubs announcing administration as soon as relegation is confirmed.

To avoid being seen to pick on individual clubs, this should apply permanently. If a team deducted points would have been relegated without the deduction, it should always apply the following season.

Would help if the FA and league could agree on a consistent set of rules and stick to them.

Chong Warrior · 23 Apr 2009 at 18:49

I've no sympathy for Southampton. Some bad blood between the Saints and Spurs after the whole Hoddle and Dean Richards thing.... I remember their chairman having a sustained go at Spurs in the press saying Southampton were the bigger club and who did we think we were trying to poach their manager and players.

Who looks silly now?

G|mp · 23 Apr 2009 at 19:13

I feel sorry for the fans and the players, that club is run by ****ing idiots.

Waxmyballs · 23 Apr 2009 at 19:17

Uriel said:
Excellent decision to be honest. It sets a precident that will stop clubs announcing administration as soon as relegation is confirmed.

To avoid being seen to pick on individual clubs, this should apply permanently. If a team deducted points would have been relegated without the deduction, it should always apply the following season.

Would help if the FA and league could agree on a consistent set of rules and stick to them.

Always nice to have precedents made with your club when previous precedents (like Derby's administration) are ignored.

Also, Why does everyone keep forgetting that Hansa (West Hams holding company) is in administration and yet they've not had any points deduction??

How does that smack at being fair in any way?

Chong Warrior · 23 Apr 2009 at 19:33

G|mp said:
I feel sorry for the fans and the players, that club is run by ****ing idiots.

Yeah always feel sorry for the true fans... of any club really.

[ASSE]Hinchy · 23 Apr 2009 at 20:57

Was speaking with my friend about Southampton today, and the effect the transfer window has on lower league clubs. Whilst I can understand it was brought in partly to stop big clubs coming in and buying a smaller clubs best players when they had an injury crisis for example, its taken away an opportunity for clubs in financial trouble like Southampton to offload players to keep themselves running. If we'd have been able to sell Surman or Lallana before easter just to keep us going, we could have avoided this situation, or at least delayed it for a while.

What are the main reasons for the transfer window?

a1ex2001 said:
I suspect there will be an appeal made by the administrators as the FA are not following the rules they have written down and it seriously effects the value of SLH (The Parent Company) as the club represents one of there major assets. This could drag on and on and be even more laughable than the West Ham affair. When will the FA learn about not dabbling in the Law for pitty's sake they even let a Norwich director sit on the panel making the decision!

Surely any appeal would be unsuccessful anyway as other clubs would have done the same thing? I remember reading about the Norwich director but also read that he was one of the people who were dead against the points deduction Luton were given..

How come Derby weren't deducted points? Was their situation different?

HangTime · 23 Apr 2009 at 22:38

[ASSE]Hinchy;13943197 said:
Don't understand why they can wait to see when they deduct the points though really. Seems extremely unfair and its not punishing the club as much, its punishing the fans carrying it on into next season.

Surely it's better to have everything out in the open. I mean, imagine a situation where Saints went into their final game thinking that a draw would keep them up. They get the point and then all of a sudden 10 points disappear. That would be really frustrating for the club and the fans.

As for the transfer window, IMO any club that can go under just because they couldn't sell a couple of players between February and July really can't have been managing their finances that well even in the short-medium term.