Richard Sutcliffe: Points deductions no longer enough to act as deterrent

There is also the distinct possibility of Pompey being docked an additional 20 points by the Football League ahead of next season if they subsequently fail to reach a company voluntary agreement with at least 75 per cent of their creditors.

With the taxmen, whose demands account for almost 12m of the total 70m debt, now routinely blocking all CVAs if they are not repaid in full, it means the 2008 FA Cup winners will be in danger of suffering a second successive demotion.

In Portsmouth, it would be viewed as a case of kicking a beleaguered club at a time when it most needs help and that the people being penalised the most are the supporters – the one innocent party in all the farcical goings-on at Fratton Park over the past 12 months. But would this really be the case?

Okay, a combined 29-point deduction would leave Pompey relegated then cut adrift at the foot of the Championship come August before a ball has been kicked.

But they need only look at Leeds in 2007-08 for inspiration as to how a swingeing punishment can be overcome to launch a promotion bid.

And as if that wasn't enough to lift spirits on the south coast, a post-administration Portsmouth would be in its healthiest state for some time.

Not only will their crippling debts have been slashed by what is effectively a cleansing process for those clubs with toxic debt, but supporters will be able to look forward to a new era with confidence as fresh investment is sought to re-build the team.

Anyone who doubts this should cast an eye 20-odd miles along the south coast.

Twelve months ago, Southampton were heading for relegation from the Championship and financial calamity.

Administration duly followed along with a 10-point penalty. The future appeared as bleak as any Saints fan could fear.

Cue the arrival of Markus Liebherr, a Swiss-German billionaire with links to the area through his engineering company. He bought the club in July for a reputed 12m.

Southampton were transformed, the previously bare coffers suddenly yielding 800,000 to bring Rickie Lambert from Bristol Rovers. Lambert is now the division's top scorer with 19 goals.

More investment followed last month with Alan Pardew able to spend 2m on bolstering his squad during the transfer window, an outlay that eclipsed more than half of the Premier League clubs.

Attendances have also swelled at St Mary's with Saints attracting their first 30,000-plus crowd in 18 months for the visit of Exeter on Boxing Day, while next month will bring a Wembley appearance in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.

Hardly the bleak future that many were predicting when the Football League imposed the 10-point penalty last summer.

And that is, quite literally, the point.

Deductions no longer act as a strong enough deterrent with clubs able to embark on reckless spending sprees safe in the knowledge that a stint in administration can amount to what is effectively a 'get out of jail free' card.

Okay, some such as Leeds United in 2007-08 have missed out on promotion due to the imposition of a points penalty. Others including Bournemouth, Luton and Wrexham have been relegated.

But, on the whole, clubs who emerge from administration do so in a far healthier state – on and off the field – than those who have battled manfully to manage their own debt. It is an unfair playing field and one the authorities should look at sorting out.

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn this week fired the first salvo by calling for the points deduction to be ditched in favour of an automatic two-division demotion.

A far more sensible approach, however, would surely be to bring in some form of spending cap related to turnover that would sit alongside the existing punishment of docking points.

That way the likes of Southampton would not be able to steal a march on their peers so soon after having to concede defeat in the battle to stay afloat.

It would also mean an end to the process of administration being viewed as a dose of medicine worth swallowing to wipe out crippling financial problems entirely of a club's own making.