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Could be methanol poisoning. The Home Office has a list of countries to watch out for it, which includes Nigeria. And reading through the Twitter thread there are people saying that Nigerian alcohol is dodgy. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33p7vvyp2zo

I think we'll have to stick with the other teams in the EFL naughty corner. Swindon Town, Shrewsbury Town, Leicester, Wednesday, West Brom. Maybe a trip to Turkey to play Goztepe, and while we're there we can play Adana Demirspor who just got relegated to the third tier on -57 points.

I’d rather it was sorted in the coming days - the summer may seem long but it’ll fly and I’d like to think we’d be ready to go as much as possible by pre-season. *remembers we support Saints* …but we probably won’t be.

Do they book rooms by the hour?

Dear Rockcliffe Hall. We are looking at hiring out 15 rooms in August for some team bonding and some strength training in your hotel gym. Would it also be possible to hire out your football facilities next door as we would like to keep them sharp for the season ahead. We would be looking for over an HOUR as fitness is the key. We have some keen golfers that would love to use your local golf course plus some staff are keen birdwatchers if you could recommend anywhere local for us to explore. I’m also hoping you would be able to lay on a spread for the lads afterwards but nothing too salty as they will be on strict diets for the season ahead. We look forward to hearing back from you soon. Kind regards Tonda Eckert.

Maybe they are looking at the alleged bullying? It's a bit odd.

Is there any gauge on what a possible FA sanction could be? Is there precedent? He broke EFL rules and there were EFL sanctions. What's the FA's role here? To enforce EFL rules? If he did this in the Prem there would be no repercussions as there are no regulations against it. So does the FA's opinion change depending on what league the manager is in? Makes no sense.

Guess the truth will all be revealed in the coming weeks

One of the reasons will be that Bielsa himself confessed and admitted to it within a day of it first coming to light v Derby and then went into detail at a press conference a couple of days after that. He owned it, held his hands up, confessed, gave the press the quotes and story and it all moved on. Ha ha ha naughty boy. Maybe there is another universe where instead of flat batting and defensive "no comment" stuff, we were actually on the front foot on the day of the first leg, owned it. Don't give Middlesbrough the chance to own it in such a moralistic way. Maybe it makes no difference but the fact is we looked shifty and guilty from the start. Maybe it would have worked if we'd looked bolder and more brazen but with a hands up approach - doing that "look, sorry we did it but it's a bit like diving and harassing the ref and not as bad as financial cheating" stuff. Yes it's wrong sorry but its common honest. Drop in a line or two to imply that we think someone might have been doing it to us this season. A bit of bullshit. But Tonda hasn't got the personality to do that. Neil Warnock maybe, but Tonda isn't quite there yet. Plus the rule change did us of course. But Bielsa owned it in a way we never did. Boro owned the narrative and it helped fuck us over.

Eliminates

Didn't receive my refund today... 🤨

Sadly though, it doesn't come as the greatest surprise does it.

Judging by the posts from Scienza and Pertez not sure they knew too much about what was going on. I agree that the punishment was harsh but the fallout from this is going to rumble on

If it was us there would be about 30% of this forum desperate for us to play the kids/reserves and get knocked out of the Conference League at the earliest possible opportunity.

He's not my favourite Blair of all time by the way. No, my favourite Blair of all time............is Mr Lionel Blair.

No but if there was a chance that this goes on for months before any decision then we won't be starting the season with it hanging over us. Much more likely in that scenario that he goes on gardening leave but no need to get rid of him if that doesn't happen.

It has FACT with a little siren so must be true.

Maybe they were fully aware of the spying. Maybe they share a commonly stated opinion from ex pros that everyone does it and that the punishment is ridiculous.

Last minute vs Wrexham Stewart double at Sheffield United Last minute v Swansea And that last two months of Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. It felt like we would’ve been set to go up. Such a shame how it came crashing down.

Let's also not forget that Bielsa was adored by the media too. It was even laughed off to a degree

Wasn't that what formed the basis of the EFL allegations? That staff felt bullied and pressured into spying?

Well a week ago I don’t think we’d ever have envisioned him still being here now

That part is the only thing I can see that could differentiate Eckert from Bielsa, in terms of the FA's viewpoint / rulebook. Both Bielsa and Eckert sanctioned the spying, so there's no differential in that respect.

I believe that when I see it to be honest. Obviously we aren't privy to the behind the scenes stuff, but I'll be amazed if the players are OK with the situation