It's difficult to know what to say about Luton Town's unprecedented 30 point deduction dished out by the Football League yesterday.

It's certainly not a laughing matter, so don't expect too much humour in this diary entry today (infact, given such a peculiar grasp on comedic terms when has my patter even truly been funny?).

But anyway, I digress, as, no doubt, will the clasp of potential signings manager Mick Harford had lined up for the coming weeks.

There are lost causes, then there are 30-point deductions. The bookmakers have made the Kenilworth Road outfit 10/1 on favourites to drop into non-league football (already being refered to as "the abyss" by some Hatters fans).

As a supporter of a club who play in the Blue Square Premier (that's the Conference in new money), I can assure any reading Luton fans that it's not the abyss, nor a dark bottomless hole of emptiness and despair.

It's close, particularly when you rock up at Stevenage Borough on a November Saturday morning trying to find a decent boozer, but there is life in these puddles, believe me - just look at how well clubs like Carlisle are doing now having sampled the delights of 'Division 5'.

However, the real problem here is that the punishment does not reflect anything to do with the current club, since the arrival of new owners and the disinfecting of the scourge of previous financial misdemeanours has been completed in all, it seems, other than the eyes of the authorities.

Rules are rules, and clubs must be made to pay for their crimes, but a comprised total of 40 points deducted in six months is not punishing past owners, but the fans of a club who a year from now may well be planning away trips to Drolysden and Farsley Celtic.

Yesterday was indeed another sad day for football.

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