Hatters fury as FA reject Luton's appeal against 30-point penalty

Luton will definitely begin life in Coca-Cola League Two on minus 30 points next month after the Football Association rejected an appeal.

The Hatters were docked 10 points by the FA as well as fined £50,000 for breaching regulations over payments to agents.

This was followed by a 20-point penalty from the Football League after the club exited administration without agreeing a Company Voluntary Agreement.

The club were attempting to wipe out the FA's penalty but a hearing in London has refused to overturn the decision.

An FA statement said: 'The deduction of 10 points was a heavy sanction, as it was intended to be, but was not excessive as a reflection of the seriousness of the breaches and the need to deter such conduct within football clubs.

It is highly unfortunate for Luton Town and their loyal fans that shortly after the FA regulatory commission reached its decision the Football League quite separately imposed a 20-point deduction for entirely different actions by the club.'

The decision was met with dismay by a small band of fans gathered at the hearing, with the chairman of the Loyal Luton supporters club branding it as 'disgraceful.'

Kevin Lennon, from Loyal Luton Supporters Club, said: 'It is absolutely disgraceful. The real facts have not been analysed and the right decision has not been reached. I'm staggered.

'I thought commonsense would prevail and the guilty perpetrators would be the
ones found guilty. Where do we go from here? We have obviously been shown that the regulators have no time for the smaller clubs of this country but we will roll up our
sleeves.

'Whether it is minus 10, 15 or 30 points, we are big enough to stay up this season and I am sure that we will do. There were some big names in football willing to stand up for us and say that the sentence was completely unjust but the FA have turned a blind eye.

'They have let football down today.'

Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, was equally frustrated by the decision which leaves Mick Harford's side staring at relegation from the Football League.

Last season 43 points would have been enough to survive in League Two meaning
that Harford must somehow coax around 73 points from his side next year to
prevent a third successive relegation.

Moran said: 'We are all furious and flummoxed. We cannot understand how two
bodies who are charged with oversight of football have combined to effectively
kill off a good community club.

'Sure, Luton Town has had its problems but most of them are attributable to
the previous owners not the current consortium or fans.'