York City chairman Douglas Craig believes Chesterfield have got away scot-free after the Football League board finally ratified the nine-point deduction imposed on the Spireites for financial irregularities.

Last week the board refused to ratify the recommendation, which also included a £20,000 fine, and asked a three-man panel to reconsider the points penalty.

However, when it reconvened this week the panel stood by their original decision meaning Chesterfield have enough points to absorb the penalty and still be promoted to Division Two.

Craig who had labelled the punishments when first announced as "pathetic", said he was not surprised by the panel's decision to stick to their guns.

"I could have forecast it," he said.

"The board will now ratify the decision because they haven't 'got the balls' to do anything else.

"The panel were in a slightly impossible position in that if they had changed their mind it would have been said they were simply doing as they were told.

"But it means Chesterfield have got promotion and all the money that goes with that.

"With a fine of just £20,000 they will make more than that going up which means the punishment is nil."

Craig was this afternoon a guest on talkSPORT, the national radio station dedicated to sport.

The City supremo was being interviewed by former football commentator Brian Moore on his Inside the Boardroom programme.

* York's finest rockers, Shed Seven, will be guests amid the controlled chaos that is Sky Sport's Saturday morning football show, Soccer AM, tomorrow. The programme is broadcast from 8am to noon.

Updated: 09:24 Friday, May 04, 2001