I heard a bit of an interview with Barry Hearn (the Leyton Orient owner) the other day, he suggested that his club struggle to get anywhere in their league because they are an honest and well run club and they are up against clubs that effectively cheat. He was suggesting that when a club goes into administration they do so because they're are living outside of their means and doing so is cheating. Hearn feels that any club going into administration should be more heavily punished - relagation through two divisions was suggested.

My questions are; is it cheating?

If it is should we wait until a club goes into administration before punishing them?

What is the right punishment to ensure that it's an option that clubs stop taking (is there a way of avoiding punishing the fans)?

Depends on if you agree with the law.

It is illegal for any company that is insolvent to continue trading, time will tell as to if any of the Pompey Directors get prosecuted.

Does continuing to trade while insolvent constitute cheating? That all depends on where you are on the pitch

I heard this too and I think he has a point...

I think anyone running/owning/claiming to be a director of a company has a duty to ensure it is run correctly and within its means and in fact the law is very fair about this and will help if a company runs into trouble.. in my opinion football clubs should not be allowed to get this far, so the issue here is a weak FA, UEFA, FIFA ... (Where have we heard this before ?)

However, why I dont fully agree with him because...

Football clubs are institutions not compnaies (proved by the fact that floating them did not really work) with many stake holders such as staff, players, fans, community as well as shareholders and directors....

In a previous life I worked in corproate recovery, it is one of the most upsetting and degrading things to go through and it is not fair on all the stakeholders concerned to be punished for the F*** ups of a few.

IF YOUR SPENDING MONEY YOU DONT HAVE,THEN YEAH YIOUR CHEATING WE DONR IT FOR YEARS TILL ROMAN CAME ALONG. THATS JUST THEWAY OF THE MODERN GAME,BUT HOPEFULLY CLUBS WILL LEARN AFTER POMPEY,PALACE .....ETC

Graham, mate...lay off the CAPS.

Anyway, I don't see it as cheating to a certain point. If you are a business you have to go into debt hoping that your "assett" will return some form of investment. If you continue to purchase at a silly rate without return, then there should be something done.

However, if Pompei are to be fined/accused of wrongdoing, then what about the Glaziers?

no club in the world want to have to go into administration they do because they have to look at cardiff they had lower turnouts than expected