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As the financial situation worsen for most clubs outside the Premier League early plans were being laid to help stop such shanningans occuring again. A meeting, comprising of Football League bodies and representatives from all 72 Nationwide Football League clubs, was held yesterday to discuss the possible measures that can be taken to help clubs to recover from the financial mess that they have created and others to avoid such predicaments.

Administration Penalties

Perhaps most important to Huddersfield Town, and numerous other clubs including Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Port Vale, Notts County, Barnsley and York CIty, is the announcement that plans are being discussed to introduce a penalty system for clubs who enter into administration. Having been the football 'buzz' word of 2003, it seems that the security of administration will no longer be present for those clubs looking for an easy route out of the financial mess that they have created.

The initial plans are for clubs to receive a 6 point deducition in the league should they enter into administration. This would've clearly hit Huddersfield Town hard this season had it been in place, as it would've now seen the club relegated from Division 2. The second plan, regarding administration, is that clubs who enter into administration more than once within a three year period will be immediately relegated. How this would work is unknown, as there are serious organising issues for such an occurence mid-season, but I'm sure it's more of a 'warning shot' from the League rather than something they ever actually want to enforce.

Unsurprisingly, the only club to disagree with these proposals was Leicester City. Leicester entered administration after buying their new 'Walkers Stadium' and numerous acquisitions to help assist their plight back to the Premiership. Needless to say, they are now back in the Premiership and being in administration means it won't be long before they're back making a profit again. This tactic has come under a great deal of scrutiny from other managers, most namely Sheffield United's manager Neil Warnock who has been in the press numerous times stating his displeasure for such an 'easy route' out of Division 1.

Wage Capping

As a precautionary measure to stop clubs entering into financial mess in the future, the Football League has aksed that all clubs in Division 3 cap their player's wage bill at 60% of its turnover, rising to 75% for the entire wage bill including back room staff. This measure will be 'phased' into Division 1 and 2 over the coming seasons to bring a standard of spending to the entire Football League. However, there are currently no sanctions imposed for failing to comply, thus meaning clubs could still get away with overspending for the time-being.

Play-off Expansion

Perhaps the news that will be most noticeable next season is the fact that there will now be 6 places open for play-off contenders. Mid-table clubs can now take heart that lying in 12th place will no longer mean a dull end-of-season run, as places 3 through to 8 (3-9 in Division 3) will be open for play-off spots. The current plan is to keep the number of promotions the same as before, though. (ie. 3 up and 3 down). It may be bad news for those who finish near the automatic places though, as they have even more hurdles to jump despite finishing considerably higher than those in 8th and 9th places.

All of the plans are to be ratified on the 5th of June at the annual general meeting. However an extraordinary general meeting is being arranged to discuss the administration proposals.