League deadline for administration which would bring an immediate ten-point deduction.

There has been much conjecture between fans over whether the club would accept a points deduction this month if they felt relegation and administration had become inevitable.

Neither has happened.

Clubs who go into administration before tomorrow’s deadline will be penalised immediately with a ten point deduction.

If they wait until after that date, the situation changes. Initially, no deduction will be made and they will play out the season as normal but, if they are subsequently relegated, they will start the 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.

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

That means, in order to be safe, any club entering administration after tomorrow must effectively finish ten points above the bottom three.

The Daily Echo understands that Saints are NOT planning a move into administration at this time.

In any case, they would not make a decision based on a deadline imposed by the football authorities as it would be their bank or other creditors who would force the issue.

Although they are reliant on support from Barclays Bank, as well as the stadium loan note holder Norwich Union, the Saints board have implemented cuts to bring costs down.

Many of the higher wage earners have been loaned out and other staffing reductions have been made.

To date, those measures seem to have met with approval, as the club has retained the bank and loan note holder’s support.

Should that support ever be removed, the situation would obviously change.

The regulations over the points deduction system were brought in during 2007, after Leeds, who were as good as relegated from the Championship, went into administration to avoid a ten-point deduction the following season.

Although they eventually started the next campaign on minus-15 points for not following Football League rules on entering administration, the loophole was closed.

Boston United also entered into a Company Voluntary Agreement that same year as they were about to be relegated to the Conference, in a bid to avoid a deduction the following season.

Although, in theory, they were successful, they were eventually demoted an extra division, to the Conference North, for breaking regulations over the terms of the CVA.