LegalEagle

Indeed - see the quote below from my Derby County mate when we were exchanging messages earlier today. Gibson has form for this. History repeating. He’s after cash: Gibson sued DCFC after Mel Morris fucked up all those years ago and we beat Middlesbrough to 6th place. Gibson argued this was a result of DCFC cheating, conveniently ignoring the fact that his bunch of choppers, when they were well in the playoff places in February, only won 5 of their last 12 matches, 9 of which were against teams below them in the league.

Daily Mail always was filth. A rag trying to make out they were something more. If Middlesbrough had more than that one photo of Salt then the Mail would have published it. There is nothing more. The longer this goes on the more likely I think that we’re looking at fine and suspended points next time we’re in the EFL.

Unless other clubs have time stamped CCTV footage showing spying in the 72 hour window then my bet is that anything from any other club is conjecture and hearsay. Not worried about this. Other clubs might have suspicions but that will count for nothing here.

I think this is pretty much spot on. The longer the decision is announced (not made necessarily) the better it is for us in terms of outcome. If a decision were to come out this weekend then I suspect it will be bad news for us.

The media are taking the approach they are here because we’ve pissed them off by not talking about it or giving interviews or making statements whilst it is being decided. The correct and proper approach by a professional outfit. Whereas the Boro lot cannot keep their mouths shut and are providing the media with material. The gutter press in this country love that. Boro are acting like a bunch of desperate amateurs.

Totally agree. I think that’s where this will end up.

At the end of the day, especially where no sanctions are set out, the penalty has to be proportionate. There are a few legal precedents where this is stated - not necessarily in a sporting context but are still good law. This will then come down to exactly what went on here. One incident of someone taking some footage on an iPhone for even 30 minutes or so which was then deleted, expulsion in my opinion is not proportionate. Boro know this hence why they have been trying to find other examples of Saints doing this. Boro are scratching around because I suspect the facts in relation to Salt don’t go far enough. In my view this is the crux of the matter.

That’s the most predictable thing that will come out of this. The lack of sanctions here is the biggest problem for the EFL and Boro. Impose the gravest sanction and this is going to end up in a High Court battle for a long time to come. The EFL would be subject to the most intense criticism by the courts and I suspect they know this.

If we do happen to be kicked out of the playoffs, I’m assuming that when the final does take place we will still turn up in numbers for a bit of a sing song outside the stadium.

You’ll love this guys. A WhatsApp literally just sent to me by an old mate who is a Derby County season ticket holder when he saw their press release. Love it. See below: I absolutely loathe Middlesbrough. Horrible club which always falls short but with a mardy-arsed pathetic little rat of a chairman who looks to litigate to make up for his team’s incompetence on the pitch. If it were down to me I’d give your boys a fine of £2.5 million reduced to £250,000 if you don’t get promoted. And I’d fine Middlesbrough £1 million because they’re a load of c***s.

If you mean emails from his time at Saints they will amount to confidential information. Saints would seek to exclude emails obtained as a result of a breach of contract and therefore obtained and disclosed illegally. Depends on how the tribunal view such evidence - you cannot unsee something.

In a court of law less weight would be given to his evidence as a result of his sacking and his previous connections with Boro. Can’t see why the tribunal will treat it any differently here.

On or before May 19

The KC, who is the Chair, is a very sensible bright chap.

Behave. Nothing points to us not being in the final.

The £200 million figure is a complete red herring. That’s just them trying to exaggerate the size of their potential loss. More relevant is what kind of profits would Saints make by being promoted taking into account transfer fees etc. The EFL might try and look at that for the size of any financial penalty but even that is nonsensical and would be a ground for any appeal. You have to look at the facts here and what actually happened and to what extent. That is all that matters. Spying several times and many hours at a time is significantly different to half an hour on an iPhone on public space with no trespass or criminal activity haven taken place.

Sorry for getting all legal here and Lee on Solent touched on this above. If it turns out that the allegations are either not upheld or that they are found to be relatively minor in their nature (i.e. the extent of the “spying”) then some of these journalists and pundits need to watch their backs. Some of the comments that have been made are defamatory and/or libelous. The journalists and pundits whom I refer to have made these statements without being in full possession of the facts, and indeed without possession of any of the facts and cannot try and rely upon ‘honest belief’. if it turns out as I stated above in my second sentence, the club should take these people through the courts if they won’t make a full public apology. I’m surprised at certain main stream media and radio printing and publishing some of these statements. Let’s see.

That’s how I read it. He was invited to discuss it but side stepped it. Maybe he was just feeling the defeat and today will come out fighting on their first day of post/pre-season training. Twats.

To be fair to Simon Jordan he was very sensible. In so many words he thinks that it’s a storm in a teacup which should result in a fine and slapped wrists. As he says, Boro had their chance in that first half with the home advantage and blew it but they now have a ready made excuse if they get knocked out. Their manager is in a win win situation. The bit I’d like to know more about in this Talkshite piece is the references to a “Whistleblower”. That can only suggest someone internally at Saints has spilled the beans about our alleged activities for the past few months. What utter bollocks. This only came about 72 hours ago. There is no “Whistleblower”. Pure media invention.

The Guardian seem to have an agenda here. Their reporting of this from the start has been one sided. Is Gibson a Labour Party donor? That might explain it.

I think that even with the limited amount of information as to what went on here, we are going to be found guilty of breaching at least one of the two rules. The question is therefore, what is the punishment? There is no precedent (ignore the Leeds case for reasons stated). The punishment will depend upon the following: 1. Was this a lone wolf or was it authorised by the Club? If the Club authorised it then go to q2. 2. What did he film or record and how? On specialist equipment then not good. Supports intention. 3. How much did he film or record and for how long? For the club, shorter the better. 4. Was the recording/film passed on to the club? If so, was it used by the coaching staff? If yes and yes and the answers to 1, 2 and 3 are bad for us then we are deep in it and could potentially face expulsion from the play offs. Everything here will revolve around the facts. The tribunal have the powers here to seek a statement from the person involved. If this ends up in court then we have cross examination of witnesses etc and the club will be asked if they did it before. No covering up in this scenario unless you want to face charges of perjury. I think that this is very much up in the air here but my bet is that the club will be desperate to do a deal with the EFL. Massive fine and points deduction next season that we’re in the championship.

Drafted by the club’s lawyers. Standard type wording.

The BBC also need to take a good look at themselves. Their article on “Spygate” on the website today is a disgrace. Having a crack at Eckert for not answering their poorly thought out and repetitive questioning is just childish. The BBC’s Adam Lanigan who wrote the piece comes over as bitter and twisted. Eckert was not “defensive” yesterday or in any evasive. He is clearly under instructions from the club’s lawyers not to say anything of any substance whilst this is being investigated. Just because he didn’t give some road weary hack the answer they wanted which they would then have twisted and misconstrued is not Eckert’s fault but that of the media in general, most of whom live in the gutter. The same applies to half of these ex- footballers like Troy Deeney who shouldn’t even be allowed to comment based on his past and the fact that he has about two brain cells.

Nobody apart from the club’s lawyers and a handful of people at most in the club knows what has happened here. Nobody at Middlesbrough knows what has exactly happened here, who was responsible, what was done etc. It’s guesswork and supposition. The EFL themselves don’t know the full extent. Their charge was premature. The whole matter needs investigating fully. Nothing of any substance will happen in the next few weeks unless Saints make some kind of confession that is accepted by the EFL. Highly unlikely that will happen unless there is some kind of plea deal that the club see as being a good thing. Boro have made life harder for themselves here because of their inability to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo. If they were three or four up from the first leg, which they should have been, this would be fading away already. Because they are useless in front of goal and the writing is now on the wall for Tuesday night, they’re looking for an easier route through to the play off final i.e. Saints expulsion. It was quite clear from the first half yesterday that if, yes if, there has been any spying it had no positive effect.

We have probably breached the rules. The question then for the EFL is did we or have we gained an unfair advantage in our matches against Boro. That will all come down to the extent of the evidence that Boro have collated. I assume that it’s minimal and therefore any penalty has to be commensurate with that. A fine for sure and at worst a small points deduction for the next time we’re in the EFL.