Town chairman David Sheepshanks has said he is against across the board sanctions for clubs in administration. The Football League board meets tomorrow at Leicester City to discuss points deductions for sides who end up in administration.

This would not affect Town or Leicester City, the club whose rebirth and subsequent promotion has provoked most anger, the proposals coming into effect in the 2004/05 season.

Opposing managers, including Sheffield United's Neil Warnock, have voiced the opinion that the Foxes have had an advantage over other First Division clubs by avoiding their debts and having to sell only Gary Rowett, Robbie Savage and Matt Piper from the squad which was relegated last season.

There is a feeling amongst some in the game that administration, at least the particular path that Leicester took, is an easy option. The old Leicester City company was wound up and a new one formed, the Inland Revenue agreeing to receive just 10p in the pound from their debt. Unsecured creditors received nothing. At Town they will receive between 5p and 20p in the pound depending on which division the club is in.

Town chairman David Sheepshanks says that Town's situation is very different from that of the Foxes and the two should not be treated the same by the Football League: "The proposals do not take into account the different levels of problems and actions taken by clubs in administration.

"The difficulty with this policy is that it assumes that every club who has gone into administration has done so to seek a competitive advantage of has been subject to recklessness of management planning and neither has been the case at Ipswich.

"It does not distinguish between a club which has been stable in lower divisions and has got into difficulties through mismanagement and a club that has been relegated from the Premiership."

The chairman says that the football authorities ought to do more to help relegated clubs avoid having to go into administration rather than punishing them. The Football League is also being reminded by some parties that it was their failure to negotiate a water-tight contract with ITV Digital which has caused much of the hardship within the game at present.

Proposals to increase the play-offs to six teams will also be voted on, a plan put forward by Crystal Palace.

Next season will see the start of a wage-capping trial in Division Three with clubs allowed to pay 60% of their income on players wages. The plan is that this figure will eventually fall to 50%. The idea is not universally supported in the game with one highly placed Town insider telling TWTD recently that he felt the plan was "unworkable".

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Ipswich Town Polls