Could Saints escape points penalty? (From This is Hampshire)

Southampton FC may not get points deduction from Football League

8:32am Wednesday 1st April 2009 in News

Saints will not be deducted 10 points until the end of the season if the Football League rule that they must be docked points.

Confirmation that the club’s shares were suspended yesterday is expected to be the first step towards Saints going into administration.

Saints though remain hopeful that if their parent company Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC is placed into administration, and not Southampton Football Club, then they may not be hit with the Football League’s mandatory ten-point penalty.

Any clubs who went into administration before the fourth Thursday of last month, March 26, were hit with the ten-point deduction immediately.

Clubs waiting until after that point to go into administration, as may be the case with Saints, will have their ten-point deduction suspended.

If Saints are unable to beat the drop they will start their League One campaign next season on minus-ten points.

However, if they finish outside the drop zone, the ten points will be taken off after the final game of the season.

And if that causes them to slip into the relegation zone, they would then go down.