It was a bad day for TV AM's very own Nick Owen on Thursday as Luton Town were awarded the first relegation spot of the 2008-9 season, after they were given a further twenty points penalty meaning that they start the 2008-9 season on -30.

The deduction of 20 points comes as Luton came out of administration without a CVA in a similar way to Leeds did last Summer. it comes on the back of Luton already having been deduction 10 points for irregularities in the transfer market in previous seasons.

A Football League statement 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."

You'd have to say that there's no chance whatsoever of Luton getting enough points this season to stay up. Working on the usual 50 points for survival, this points deduction will mean that they will need the equivalent of automatic promotion form throughout the season to have a chance of staying up.

But given the blow this will give to morale and any hopes of bringing in any new players, that's an uphill challenge beyond any side.

The only possible hope they could have would come from Rotherham and Bournemouth, who are both also still in administration. Should both of those sides get similar points deductions to the Hatters, then we could have three sides on negative points tallies at the start of the season fighting it out over the two relegation spots.

The smart money could be on this blow having such a dramatic effect on a Luton side still finishing the season with a minus points total as they realise that it's not worth any effort this season.

Expect to read lots of pleas for sympathy from Luton supporters over the next few weeks, going on about how its a new company in charge now and how they shouldn't be punished for a previous regime's actions.

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