The Club were notified today that the Football League, after the hearing on Tuesday of this week, have deducted three points and imposed a £10,000 fine (suspended for 12 months) following the charge of playing an ineligible player in the Easter Monday game against Brighton.
Gary Liddle had received a yellow card in the Easter Saturday game against Leyton Orient but the player failed to realise it was his tenth booking of the season as he believed it was his 9th. The Football League's Official Website showing player bookings prior to the Easter Saturday games also showed him only accruing eight bookings.
In today's additional hearing at Football Association headquarters at Wembley the Club have also been notified of a fine of £3,500, while Gary Liddle has been served with a one-game ban which will come in to effect in fourteen days. His total games banned for this offence will now be three.
The Club and its owners, while fully recognising that we play under two sets of Rules (FA and FL), are amazed that the Club and player have been tried and punished for the same offence on two different occasions - something that does not even happen under English Law .
This is the Club's first offence of this kind.
Other recent offences for clubs fielding ineligible players have not had such severe punishments and it appears clubs playing under just one set of rules - as in the Premier League under the FA - only get punished once for an offence and in the case of West Ham a few seasons ago during the Tevez issue, they received only a fine but had no points deducted for playing a player for several games illegally. Sheffield United then suffered the full effect of that ruling.
The Club strongly suggests that the Football League and Football Association need to review the rules for punishments of all nature and ensure that a double punishment to any club for any offence is prevented in the future.
The Club and its owners are currently considering its position and are aware that the Club have up to 28 days in which to lodge an appeal to the Football League with regards to the points deduction .The Club has no further comment
