Luton Town will begin next season in League Two on -15 points after the Football League effectively confirmed the way they dealt with the Leeds United situation will become the norm for clubs failing to agree a Creditors Voluntary Agreement. The Football League under Lord Mawhinney has vociferously endorsed this for Leeds, even though an Independant tribunal roundly criticised it, and only the fact that the deduction in Leeds' case was a condition, not a punishment, saved them. Luton's new owners seem committed to funding them through the next few seasons, likely to end with them going out of the League altogether after next season where they will be relegation favourites, but Rotherham and Bournemouth are having the same problem. Put simply a Creditors Voluntary Agreement is a means of reducing the amount owed to creditors by agreeing a reduced figure within the stricken companies means. This is put to a creditors vote where a CVA can be either accepted or rejected, and 75% acceptance is needed to pass the CVA. However the Football League states that a club in administration must pay all Football Creditors, owed wages and transfer fees etc, must be paid in full. In other businesses, this preferred creditor position is occupied by Her Majesties Revenue and Customs HMRC, and their policy is to recover all taxes owed to the Crown. This means that they are attempting to force a legal challenge to the Football League to force them to make HMRC a preferred creditor, and therefore are rejecting all CVA offers no matter what the amount is. This becomes an impasse, where HMRC are owed more than 25% of the total debt. They have the means to vote down any CVA offer, and they have exercised this right in every administration since Leeds, including Halifax Town and now Luton Town. Lord Mawhinney, the chairman of the Football League who dragged the league enthusiastically into this mess, said in the build up to Leeds United's appeal that there is "no financial crisis in the Football League". The conclusion of the Independant Tribunal into Leeds' deduction stated that there are, in fact, 40 Football League clubs on the brink of financial meltdown, or more than half. Rotherham United were so concerned by the precedent the Football League has set that they acted as second to Leeds' high court challenge, and Bournemouth' (also in administration) stated that a 15 point deduction in League Two would send the club to the wall. I hope that Lord Mawhinney, a corrupt former Tory politician with little interest in Football, is now placed in an untenable position, and the calls for him to be removed mount. I fear that we will look back on the 2007-8 season as the blackest in the history of the Football League as club after club goes to the wall.