James

Definitely.

Well not really - if you’ve already accepted the charges, all you can do is appeal the severity of the penalty being imposed which, as the statement points out, is completely disproportionate.

This is almost certainly what happened.

I think that’s about as good a statement as they could have put out to be honest. Straight to the point.

This is precisely the frustration but there’s no point in dwelling on it. Football is corrupt and there is always going to be one rule for the big boys and another for smaller clubs that can be made an example of more easily.

Exactly, we don’t need a “good guy”. We need a Gibson, no way he’d have allowed this to happen if the shoe was on the other foot.

100% but this is an SR led club, incompetence.

My anger will eventually subside but honestly why the f*ck would anyone consider renewing right now.

Well, depends on what basis Saints feel they agreed to that accelerated timeline. If they agreed to comply in exchange for what they thought was an acceptable sanction only to have the rug pulled from under them then that isn’t due process, it’s a stitch up.

The only way the club can restore any credibility after this is to immediately remove anyone associated with this sorry affair.

Completely agree. It really is an extraordinary situation and not one that the people at the top of the club seem equipped to handle. They’ve been outwitted by Boro throughout this process, they had a free run to put out whatever media narrative they wanted and we just said there and said nothing.

But that’s exactly how plea deal works. You admit a “lesser” charge in exchange for leniency in the sentencing.

I think the Club will say that such an unprecedented sanction can’t possibly be handed out with due process on such an accelerated timeline. Whether that works or not, who knows. I suspect Saints thought they had an assurance this would not be the outcome and have been fucked at the 11th hour and are in shock tbh.

Generational impact is right which is why the club need to stop this silent act and get ahead of what is going on. At the moment there is no communication with fans and it smacks of absolute incompetence. There is a window to stop this turning into an absolute catastrophe for this club, either by throwing every legal piece of resource you can muster in the next 24 hours and hoping for a miracle, or galvanising a fan base to come back stronger and adopt a f*ck you attitude to the EFL and certainly to Middlesbrough Football Club once they get battered by Hull. Neither of those outcomes will be achieved by panicking and saying nothing.

Tonda will have to go for this sadly. It’s an absolutely catastrophic error of judgement from Spors, he was the one pushing for a young and inexperienced manager and this is one of the consequences. He should go as well. The club is clearly run incompetently, how are we in a position where the manager doesn’t know whether his pre match prep is in compliance with league rules? It’s absolutely mind blowing.

The sad thing is, I wouldn’t bank on any of this forming any kind of precedent. The EFL will just continue to make it up as they go along. I hope we raise hell in litigation.

I think that it’s natural to want to disown the situation. I do agree though, how can the club expect us to continue to spend our hard earned on tickets, shirts, beers etc. when what we’ve watched this season was essentially all for nothing. The silence from the club is deafening, they need to say something. I had thought silence projected confidence, more likely at his point sheer incompetence. SR need to go, we need a fresh start away from their chaos.

If the Telegraph report is accurate we have been fucking naive and outdone by a dangerous adversary in Gibson. Heads should roll.

No surprise that their big mate “Gibbo” gets what he wants. It’s clear the man is an utter prick.

100% - either get an injunction to stop the game whilst we get due process or sue the EFL for all they’ve got.

I said that earlier this week and was shouted down. The silence from the club has to stop, we’ve allowed Boro to whip up utter hysteria, there’s no way that hasn’t influenced this supposedly independent panel. Time to fucking fight back.

I also care about the harshness of the sanction. You have elite clubs flouting the rules almost at will and getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist, we have been given one of the harshest punishments in English football, period. Football is fucked, I don’t care what happens from here re this season, that’s done now, I just hope Dragan and co. give the EFL hell from here on out.

Not sure about that. This is a guy that sued and won against the Serbian Government. Doesn’t know anything about football it would seem but knows how to handle himself otherwise.

I am so angry at the club but the sanction that has been imposed on us is absolutely extraordinary. I am past the point of caring whether we play on Saturday, I’m almost certain we won’t. That said, I hope Dragan lawyers up and raises as much hell as possible.

It still doesn’t mean what that Boro idiot thinks it does though 😂