BotleySaint

I'm disturbed how much joy its given me !

Perfect. Just perfect. Bloody hate McBurnie usually. But love him now!

It's going to get very very messy if Hull dont win. He is right, why did Boro get back in? Hull should have just been sent up automatically.

I think it'll last until they start to put things right. We are all now waiting to see what their next move will be. We need something to hold onto and build hope on for next season.

I appreciate his approach and attitude. The media like him etc and I think he has merit in certain scenarios. But his managerial record is pretty poor. He ends up at struggling teams which skews the stats a bit. But I've never felt he was a consistently good manager and proven it when given the chance. Very happy to be proven wrong. But I still believe we'll end up with a nobody. SR simply do not know anything about football or what is needed.

That is the sort of thing a journalist should look into. How exactly did that transpire and what communication and input did Middlesborough actually have in the case? Seems significant. How was it a fair trial with the media storm in every major news site. It wasn't possible to be unbiased. They needed to work harder to find independent judges.

And one of the deciding independent judges is one of their ex-players. This is just reinforcing my opinion the whole thing is a total stitch up by Middlesbrough.

Looking more and more like a stitch up. Can't be a coincidence. We did wrong but the punishment is still too severe. Do we have a legal case to say the panel wasn't independent? Even so I doubt our lot would mount much of an offensive..

Yes, EFL said "We think you should do this. Do you agree, or not?" So not a completely independent decision.

On the plus side; Tonda must go. And this pins most of the blame on him.

It's the EFL; with Middlesborough CEO onboard; the submitted the suggestion of our expulsion for consideration. Even though the crime was effectively the same as that which resulted in the points deducted. Odd that... But they are saying considering the magnitude of the competitive advantage we tried to gain it means we deserve removal.

They've basically been given a free pass to the final because we watched probably 5 minutes of their training session outside of the approved window. Where is the similar level of relief/compensation from the authorities for Ipswich and Oxford? In a cup competition when a team is kicked out the opposition they were due to face just gets a bye to the next round. I think? But then the CEO of Middlesborough is on the EFL board so....

SR have repeatedly got managerial appointments wrong. Even Tonda was a gamble, that somehow paid off. At least until the cheating revelations and now even that is looking like an expensive mistake. They won't be going for anyone tried and trusted at all. It will be nobody you've ever heard of.

Probably due to the echo chamber of the internet - I firmly believe that if the Saints CEO was on the EFL board our punishment would have been different. Unfortunately, consciously or unconsciously, there was bias in this case. It's just the way of the world.

Exactly this. If Middlesborough didn't have such close links to the EFL then I reckon we'd have got a fine and points deducted. But they wanted Middlesborough there. It doesn't make sense to anyone; since it's not fair on Wrexham or whomever else may be eligible. And Hull should have been automatically promoted if we were expelled. They might even taken legal action if they lose. But no, a team that lost gets the second chance. Because the CEO of Middlesborough is in the EFL board? Probably.