Home News Columnists Neil Farrington

It’s now time to move goalposts

Mar 1 2009 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

I DIDN’T think it was the English way to kick a man when he’s down.

Try telling that to Darlington Football Club.

Some, most notably the teams similarly penalised before, may support the 10-point punishment handed down to the Quakers for entering administration.

Others, me included, reckon it is rough justice.

Why? Just look around you. Look at the boarded-up Woolworths, the full-to-bursting estate agents’ windows, the interest on your savings and the own-brand cornflakes in your cupboard.

Look at every news bulletin, every day.

There are hermits in the outer Western Isles who realise that the boom has turned to bust; that these are exceptional times.

But it would seem the Football League are living in the past. Why else apply old rules to a problem that is all too new? All too now.

When the League introduced a statutory points penalty for clubs entering administration, it was to punish those guilty of reckless mismanagement.

In an age when credit was readily available, revenue streams were plentiful and football a veritable cash cow, it was a deterrent to those prone to over-milking things.

Why, even Darlington themselves over-speculated, on an absurdly-sized stadium, in those heady, now seemingly distant days.

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