trousers

I wonder if they've ever checked behind it for bugs...?

It wouldn't surprise me if it transpires there was some kind of collaboration / interaction between the two of them prior to the incident....

Ah, ok... is there a possibility that the team traveled up on the Friday but we sent an advance party / entourage of support staff up a day or so before? (not that this probably matters in the general scheme of things... just my natural curiosity)

I was comparing two possibilities, both of whihc would be "bad" reputationally... I was simply suggesting that "willfully cheating" damages our reputation more than "inadvertantly cheating". Maybe, maybe not... just floating it as a notion...

Yeah, that's what I'm now thinking.... hmm... interesting (perhaps).... Do we know what hotel the club stayed at? (Not sure why knowing that might be informative, but felt inclined to ask!)

Yep, totally agree.... but from a reputational perspective, doing something wrong out of ignorance won't be viewed as heiniously as willfully doing something wrong.... it's the difference between the press being able to lable Tonda a "cheat" versus "a bit of a naive nicompoop"... reputation matters....

The pre-match press conference was on the Wednesday, so I guess our entire entourage could have been up there by the time of the incident on the Thursday morning?

It did occur to me the other day to float this idea.... I don't think it's a particularly wacky hypothsis that, IF it does transpire that it was indeed Tonda who instigated this/these 'spying' missions, that he was doing so out of a position of ignorance to the rules, given (we're led to believe) that no other major league in the world has such a rule as the "72 hour" EFL rule. Before I get jumped upon by the forum thought police, yes, I think it's probably unlikley that Tonda was acting ignorantly, and of course, even if he was, we all know that ignorance isn't a defence (well, in a court of law, anyhow)... but can we 100% rule it out as a possibility...?

Cheers SG... Yeah, looks like they're holding the other half back... Bit annoying, as one would prefer to get a seat at the very front of the upper tier but I'll probably end up panicking and buy one towards the back, just before they release the other blocks! We're gonna sell out so just put all the seats on sale at the same time FFS!

Anyone got a recent seat map showing what seats are still available? Cheers 👍🏻

Hoping this is one of those "I do have some inside information but can't overtly disclose that I do, so I'll word it as a hunch instead" type posts...

Because cheats usually prosper....? Oh, hang on a minute.... 🙂

Hmm... I wonder how we achieved that....? 🕵🏼 😉

I guess they were hoping that Middlesbrough won and that the issue would then disappear (in terms of the arrangements for the final)....?

Yes, it's irrelevant from the 'due process' point of view, but it's not unreasonable for a football fan to have a view / opinion on how "fair" a punishment is for one offence in comparison to another punishment for a different offence.