On Monday night, at Hunter Stadium, the Perth Glory players will take the field against cellar-dwellers Newcastle Jets ostensibly aiming for a top-two finish. More likely, they'll be wondering whether they've got anything left to play for over the remaining three rounds. Of course, some of those same players could ultimately be responsible for that.

By Wednesday, the Glory need to present convincing evidence they haven't significantly, and deliberately, breached the cap. Right now, the case against them seems overwhelming. At the business end of the tightest minor premiership race in history, it's no wonder the game waits with bated breath.

When the process is fully completed (there are two avenues for appeal) – and assuming guilt is finally established – then the prevailing mood is that there should be no mercy from the FFA. Entirely reasonable, and understandable.

The measure, as always, will be the scale of the offences. And it's here that the FFA needs to be mindful. A points penalty that guarantees the Glory can't participate in the finals is seen by many as essential in order to protect the integrity of the competition. Otherwise we could have the unpalatable prospect of a team that has cheated becoming the champions. But hold on, hasn't that happened before?

Sydney FC won the inaugural championship in 2005-06, and were subsequently found to have cheated the cap. The rorts included pre-payments, undisclosed payments, payments made to agents, and service agreements. Sound familiar?

After appeals, the penalties were eventually reduced to three competition points (for the 2006-07 season) and $173,000 in fines. I'm not privy to the full extent of Sydney FC's indiscretions, but what can't be disputed is that eight years ago the FFA had the option of stripping the Sky Blues of their title. They didn't. It's no surprise the Glory see this as a precedent.

As is the way with these things, the FFA has enormous discretion in deciding the scale of the punishment. David Gallop's track record at the NRL suggests he's unlikely to err on the side of generosity. If the Glory are guilty of serious breaches, then few are going to complain if Gallop comes down hard. The tricky question is whether that punishment – by definition – needs to rule the Glory out of the finals, and therefore the title race.

Some will argue that times have changed since Sydney FC broke the cap in 2005. That the A-League is a much more professional competition these days, and thus cheating needs to be treated much more seriously.

Well if that's the case, the bigger issue is how seriously the FFA polices the cap. We shouldn't forget that if it wasn't for dogged investigations by this newspaper, it's debatable whether the Glory's alleged creative accounting would have come to light.

Are there sufficient resources at Whitlam Square devoted to policing and administering the cap? Debatable. And if there aren't, then in the wake of this scandal the FFA has an obligation to make sure there are. Otherwise, why have a cap at all? Funnily enough, that's exactly what some of the owners seem to want. A free market. One way or another, though, someone has to pay.