Luton Town hit with points penalty

Troubled Coca-Cola League Two side Luton will start the new season with a 30-point deduction.

The Hatters, who had 10 points deducted earlier in the summer after breaching Football Association regulations over agents fees, have had an extra 20 taken away today by the Football League.

Luton were hit with the latest penalty after applying to come out of administration, but the League have confirmed they will have to face the deduction before the campaign kicks off.

The Hatters went into administration in November last year and were deducted 10 points as a result, and eventually finished bottom of League One last season.

The 2020 group have agreed a takeover package for the club, but they were unable to agree a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with the club's creditors, and the Football League Board have now decided they must face the deduction.

Leeds were deducted 15 points from their League One tally last season, and the Hatters have now also been hit with a deduction.

A Football League statement today 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."

The Hatters now face starting the season 30 points adrift of their League Two rivals, with their previous 10-point deduction being handed out at the start of last month.

That penalty was in relation to 15 charges of misconduct over breaches on FA regulations over payments to agents.