Ten point penalty for administration clubs

The decision was agreed at an emergency general meeting of the Football League in Oxford this afternoon, to deal with the problem of badly run clubs going into voluntary administration to avoid having to pay creditors.

Football League Chaieman Brian Mawhinney said: "This is necessary because the Football League are the guardian of competitiveness in our divisions and we can't have clubs who go into administration gaining an advantage.

"It is a fundamentally different approach and there was a healthy debate, but I pay tribute to the clubs for attaching that significance to it."

The decision does not affect clubs currently in administration.

It was also agreed to increase the parachute payment paid to clubs relegated to Divisions Two and Three.