High price for coming clean (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

High price for coming clean

12:50pm Friday 20th March 2009

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It’s deadline day on Thursday – and for a lot more than loan deals.

Transfers take a back seat compared with those clubs battling to avoid administration.

The third Thursday of March is the cut-off date laid down by the Football League for teams to take the ten-point hit this season for going into admin.

By Friday, anyone forced to take the drastic financial measures will see the points penalty lumped on to next term.

Darlington’s recent plunge into administration shocked everybody but there are believed to be five or six others on the brink, including the likes of Southampton fighting the drop from the Championship or League One play-off chasers Stockport.

Tough decisions will have to be made in boardrooms up and down the country. Do they bite the bullet now – which, for those at the wrong end of the table, could make relegation inevitable – or hold off for a while and then prepare to start again in August with a hefty handicap?

And to think, the league tables were once decided by what happened ON the pitch.