The 72 Football League clubs have agreed in principle to a number of changes after a meeting held at Leicester's Walker's Stadium. The play-offs will from next season involve six clubs while the League has also decided to act against sides going into administration.
Clubs in administration in the future will face the deduction of six or 12 points and eventually relegation if they fail to exit within a year. This will not be backdated to affect clubs like Town.
In addition Third Division clubs will be limited to spending 60% of their turnover on wages next season, with that figure ultimately dropping to 50%. Those proposals are planned to extend to Divisions One and Two during 2004/05. Not everyone at Town feels this in a good idea, one highly-placed insider telling TWTD recently that the wage cap was "unworkable".
Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney said of the agreements: "These are three significant developments. The clubs understand this relates to moving football forward under the umbrella of good governance."
The wage capping and play-off decisions are likely to be ratified at the League's annual meeting on 5th June. The punishments for clubs who enter administration are set to be rubber-stamped at an extraordinary general meeting yet to be arranged.