The news that Rotherham United had this week followed Halifax Town into administration took the tally of unfortunates to have been deducted points this term in either the Football League or Conference to six.

Last season, membership of this less than exclusive club was restricted to four and the fear, with six weeks of the campaign remaining and one or two other clubs' finances understood to be in vulnerable shape, this total could rise even further.

Clubs going into administration is nothing new, of course, with more than 40 having succumbed in the Football League alone. Nowhere has this been felt more keenly than in Yorkshire where Bradford City, Rotherham and Halifax have now had two stints apiece, while Barnsley, Huddersfield, Leeds, Hull and York have all endured a spell in administration. But what is most worrying about this season's flurry of teams needing protection from their creditors is the belief not so long ago that the worst was over.

It seemed that the points deduction imposed by the Football League (the Premier League regulations state nine points) for going into administration had stemmed the flow since being introduced at the start of the 2004-05 season, making it a last resort before liquidation. (Leicester having been accused by their rivals in 2002-03 of using administration to their advantage by shedding debts while maintaining a squad that won promotion to the Premier League.)

The demise of Leeds and Boston in the final week of last season followed by the events of this term have blown away that notion, leading many to suggest an alternative has to be found with a points penalty alone not working.

Rather than punishing those who can't manage their finances with a penalty, is it time for a salary cap to be introduced below the cash cow that is the Premier League?

There is, of course, the snappily-titled Salary Cost Management Protocol in place for League Two clubs, whereby they cannot spend more than 60 per cent of turnover on wages.

It is policed as the season goes on and if a club breaches this by making a signing, then the League simply refuses to register the player – effectively cancelling the transfer. This scheme was tried for one season in League One but has since been rejected in a vote by member clubs, while it has never been implemented in the Championship due to a lack of appetite among clubs.

The latter's lack of enthusiasm is understandable, even if it places an element of trust on chairmen to ensure they do not risk their club's future by spending money they don't have.

It is a sensible approach. In a division where clubs relegated from the Premier League have the benefit of millions of pounds in parachute payments for two years, how else would the likes of Hull City (whose average crowd – and, therefore, income – has actually fallen by more than 1,000 this term) be transformed from strugglers to promotion chasers without new chairman Paul Duffen almost doubling the wage bill to £8.5m and injecting funds such as the £1m that brought in record signing Caleb Folan?

Further down the football pyramid, however, maybe the time has come for a salary cap to be made compulsory with more stringent conditions than the current 60 per cent 'wage-to-turnover' ratio operating in League Two.

The alternative is, as the past few months have clearly shown, a bleak future in which league tables will feature a seemingly never-ending number of clubs sporting an asterisk after their name together with the addenda '-10/15 points'.