James

The point is, the EFL and the Independent Commission have completely messed up any semblance of a fair procedure. Usually a club has a 14 day right to respond and a similar amount of time to appeal, most other of the cases cited even in the judgement took weeks to resolve rather than days. We are guilty, no question of that, but it’s the EFL that put the commission in a position where the only sanction that would satisfy the outside noise was expulsion. In my view, that doesn’t constitute a fair process. I think we’ve been treated incredibly harshly and will continue to believe that, notwithstanding the offences of our coaching staff which are clear.

Exactly this. The way that the Panel has applied the penalty is completely incoherent. They seem to have said the starting point is a 3 point deduction for every regular season game, with a point back as credit for us complying. The consistent way to apply the same penalty in the playoffs would be to award Boro a 3-0 win in the first game. We would likely have lost anyway but teams have come back from bigger deficits. The way the punishment has been applied to the Playoff game has essentially applied a sanction to the second leg even where there is no allegation of any wrongdoing. You can say that you feel our punishment is “fair” or whatever but these processes are worth millions of pounds and should be done properly. From what we are able to gather about this case, it doesn’t seem like proper procedure has been followed to me.

Not technically but they were a direct beneficiary of the punishment imposed.

If the BBC reported squad is correct there are a few pretty weird ones. No Palmer, Toney back in from nowhere, Henderson in…

What relevance has that got to whether or not one of the individuals tasked with deciding the punishment has a conflict of interest? I’m not saying that’s the case here, I’m just saying that in a commercial context it would be highly unusual for an arbitrator to have a prior client relationship with one of the interested parties.

Don’t agree with that at all. Lawyers might not have tribal loyalty but they do have conflicts of interest. In a commercial dispute, neither party would ever agree for one of the arbitrators (as an example) to be someone that had previously represented one of the parties. I don’t know all the facts here but, if one of the independent panelists had previously represented Middlesbrough, that would be a bit odd. There are thousands of qualified sports lawyers out there that would have zero connection to any interested party.

As much as I would love Hull to batter them, it would be absolutely beautiful to watch another OneBoro meltdown when the Hull appeal goes in on Monday.

I feel as though we all collectively forgot that SR never do anything competently. We assumed that silence was projecting confidence. In reality, literally nothing SR has done for us indicated that would be the case.

You might as well laugh at elements of this and the IQ of the Boro fans on X is definitely one of them.

I said at the time we needed to get a grip on it but was shouted down on here. IMO the sanction was already decided before any “process” was carried out. We lost a trial by social media, with a hefty assist with Boro cronies at the EFL.

Worse, we at least tried to defend in the PL. Parsons has seemingly given Gibson everything he needed. Bet he couldn’t believe his luck.

He has to go. Pure incompetence.

We can move forward and still feel the punishment was disproportionate. If anything should just use it as motivation for next season.

*3 times 😉

The self flagellation needs to stop. We’ve essentially been outwitted by a more savvy chairman with conflicts of interest all over the place vis a vis the EFL (conveniently ignored). We’ve been handed a potential death penalty for the equivalent of a speeding fine. Got to get over this asap and adopt a fuck you attitude next season.

Nah, fuck that. 5-0 to Hull to watch the smile from that twat Gibson’s face disappear live on TV.

We all understand it’s different. We can still query why the consequences for us have to be this severe.

Given the total disregard for precedent in this case, Tonda is presumably going to receive a custodial sentence 🤣

He used to be a respectable journalist, now he’s just a hypocrite.

We won’t be able to keep Tonda, that decision is likely going to be taken out of our hands. My view is that we need to clear the decks as soon as possible and not wait for the FA investigation to drag all summer - let’s face it, they aren’t going to do us any favours by moving quickly. We need a new coaching team, to show the fans and the wider football world that we are moving on from this sorry saga.

Having taken some time to reflect, the severity of the sanction imposed, given what happened to Leeds (I know, different times, no rule…) and what has happened and will inevitably happen to Chelsea and Man City, is difficult to fully comprehend. I blame the Club and the coaching staff, it’s impossible not to, but most of my anger is at the fact that the EFL and the Independent Commission have chosen to throw the book at us, likely under the influence of Middlesbrough Football Club, given the interconnectivity between the senior personnel there and the top of the EFL, when the footballing authorities gone easier on other clubs for, in my view at least, more serious and more prolonged offences. There really is one rule for some, another for others. We need a reset - if only to restore the damage that the social media pile on, again instigated by influenced journalists from the North East - and the Club need our backing more than ever. We must ensure that this doesn’t destroy the short term future of this Club. I don’t envy those in decision making capacities this summer.

West Ham will get Parker.

Hope him and everyone else on his coaching team is gone at 9am. Has embarrassed us all.

Given Dragan’s history of litigating, I doubt he’d be bluffing…

Of course it doesn’t. But he has form for getting teams that are bang to rights out of jams (City). If anyone can get something out of this for us, it’s him.