adrian lord

Never apologise, never explain. We should keep Tonda, circle the wagons, increase the players' wages and get promoted automatically next season.

Praying for Hull to thrash the Boro.

Indeed, but I wouldn't trust their deliberations to be conducted in a perfect vacuum, absent of such influences and interests, conscious or unconscious.

if Boro don't beat Hull the Saints v Boro games next season will be spicy to say the least.

We are, I presume, appealing the sentence, not the conviction. The panel for the hearing yesterday would have been chaired by a KC, and so I presume the appeal today will be heard by another panel, chaired by another KC. Given that, I jolly well hope that we have instructed a heavyweight KC to represent us, nothing else will do. It is our only hope but it is very slim. The problem being, there's no halfway house compromise sanction vis a vis the playoffs that could be conceivably imposed as far as I can see. It is binary: either reinstatement or not, and to reverse that would cause far more trouble for the EFL than you could ever imagine. I think the best we can hope for is the point deduction being waived. Big deal...whoopy dos..

I wish we could keep him because he is our best team manager since Koeman and has potential to be a great manager in the future - Champions League level. He is masterful at deploying lineups and substitutions, as well as motivating the players. However I fear his position is untenable and furthermore he may get a FA ban. Then, we need to start worrying about parachute payments ebbing away. This is a galactic, monumental screw up. We have trashed ourselves at the threshold of a great new era for the club.

The appeal: No way will we be re-instated, even if we hired Kavanagh QC. Best we can hope for is the points deduction being waived. I think that is likely actually.

Tonda is a brilliant team manager who, mark my words, will one day will manage a Champions' League side (likely Bayern) but he sure has dropped a bollock with this. ignorance of the law is no defence. We will likely now be deprived of not only promotion but his stewardship, due to FA ban or him being sacked. Only Saints, only Saints can do this stuff to us fans.

What an almighty f-up.

I wish I could be so optimistic. I fear that the EFL and the football authorities will be looking to set a deterrent sentence. I worry we will be thrown out of the playoffs or at best given a hefty points deduction for next year which the Premier League will roll over and agree to.

Not only was the Cup Final dull but there were empty seats and I suspect it was not a sell out.

I hope we have instructed the most heavyweight lawyers possible, because all the signs are, and pressure is, for us to be disqualified from the playoffs. And we are not Man City or Chelsea for whom the authorities seem to just drag their feet about doing anything about their malfeasances.

One thing that stood out was Saints’ superior fitness over both matches. It’s another dimension to our success this season thanks to Tonda and his team. In recent years - since Poch even - our fitness has often been has been visibly poor, but not now.

Tonda is the master of team selection and substitute deployment.

Next time, send a reconnaissance drone up.