So the Hatters draw with Chesterfield and are relegated from the Football League. It is sad. Did they deserve it? Not really. The fact was that the manager and players were practically doomed from Day One of the season. Since the previous management had contrived to send the club into administration - more than once - and had indulged in some other creative financial instruments, the Football League "fined" the club -30 points at the start of the season. Without this the Hatters would have been firmly in mid-division. What is the point of such a penalty? A club that is financially strapped for cash will struggle to survive anyway and cannot buy the most expensive players to try to overcome a deficit of 30 points. What is an appropriate penalty for a club that runs out of money? Should it be helped to survive or should it be pushed quickly down the drain? Surely, if a club can raise the money to pay its bills, it should carry on as before. If it cannot, then it ceases to exist and if it is resurrected it must start again. It may be that financial irregularity demands a severe penalty. But surely, this system of point penalties is not right?
Many years ago one of the oldest clubs in the Football League, Accrington Stanley, went bust. In 1962 they folded and disappeared completely for six years. Then a group of supporters got together to re-form the club and four years later they played their first game. It was 44 years before they fought their way back into the Football League. But, now their is another cloud hanging over the club following reports of players betting against their own team in a game in which they were playing. I hope it isn't true. The supporters deserve better. There is not much reward in supporting lowly teams that struggle to survive from year to year with limited resources. But a football club is something you are born with. If you were born an Accrington supporter you will die an Accrington supporter. Now the team is in the middle of Coca Cola Div 2 and perhaps the fans could look forward to more progress next year. I wish them well.
For the sins of your fathers, you, though guiltless, must suffer."
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