By Albatross
May 3 2006

There's talk of Rotherham and an impending points deduction possibly saving Pools from relegation. Hopefully it won't come to that, but here is the situation as I see it. So what is going on with Rotherham?

The basic issue is that following their financial problems and a change of ownership they can't pay what they owe, and so the new owners are looking to a CVA to reduce their debts and sort out paying things off. This is usually what happens when a club comes out of Admin, and in a similar way once the CVA is agreed then a ten point penalty will be imposed by the Football League.

Rotherham's board seem to think that they have a chance of appealing such a penalty, although what hope there is of that appeal being successful is open to question. The basis of the appeal would apparently be that they were forced into their current situation due to the Football League's poor handling of the ITV Digital situation and the resultant lost revenue. Given that's affected every club outside the top flight and the majority have avoided the drastic steps taken at Millmoor I'd be surprised if they won that case - if they did, I can imagine quite a few other clubs going the same route which would make a complete mockery of the rules.

As a ten point deduction would instantly relegate the Millers, they have been anxious to avoid it being agreed before the end of the season - and it seems that although the meeting is this week, moves are afoot to delay the final decision until the following week. That itself raises an interesting question - when is the official end of the season? The end of the regular season? The FA Cup Final? The Playoff Finals? The confidence of Rotherham's board though seems to indicate that the official line is that it's after Saturday's game.

It can't be denied that the Millers are playing a somewhat dangerous game here. Trying to avoid a penalty at all is somewhat disingenuous; the rules are clear enough. The only real issue is which season they want it to happen. Taking it now is certain relegation; but then again, taking it next season when they are certain to have a reduced budget would see them favourites for relegation from League 1 next season if they survive, and in real danger of losing their status as a Football League club if they take the drop anyway. And any attempt to get the penalty to apply retrospectively to this season should they go down anyway would also discredit the ten point deduction rule. There's even some bizarre talk on one Rotherham board of deciding whether to take the deduction during Saturday's game itself - so that if they are going to be relegated they can take the deduction with a few minutes to go - although quite how they would persuade the creditors to hang around and agree it (or not) in time I'm not sure and it sounds like idle speculation to me.

The long and the short of it is that Pools cannot rely on Rotherham being deducted points to save us from relegation. A win over Port Vale and defeat for Rotherham would make all of the discussions academic as far as we're concerned - and that's exactly the way I'd like them to be. If Pools survive because of Rotherham being deducted points there will always be a taint to the achievement; and there's always the possibility of relegation being decided in a courtroom rather than on the pitch. At least if it's settled by Saturday's results the hope and despair is over there and then - a long legal battle would just leave everything in limbo. All Pools can do is to try and beat Port Vale, preferably by a big margin, and hope that Milton Keynes do us a favour!