Southampton FC will not lose points over parent company's impending administration

The Daily Echo contacted the Football League this morning to confirm whether or not the club would be hit by a points penalty.

And a spokesman confirmed that the club would not be docked points if SLH went into administration, as is widely expected.

He said: “Let’s be very clear, if the club goes into administration the club will be deducted 10 points.

“But if the holding company goes into administration then they won’t be.”

“The league rules are very specific, it has to be the club which goes into administration for points to be deducted.

“At the end of the day the Football League applies it’s rules and they specifically state it is the club that has to go into administration before points are deducted.”

Derby County provided the precedent which has seen Saints avoid a 10-point deduction for their parent company going into administration.

Back in October 2003, when ex-Saints boss George Burley was in charge at Pride Park, the Rams' parent company Derby County PLC were taken into receivership by the Co-op bank with debts of around £30m.

But Derby County Football Club, a seperate organisation under the umbrella of the Derby County PLC company, were not taken into administration and had no points deduction.

Within minutes of Derby County Ltd going into receivership, a consortium took over from them and that company ceased to exist.