coalman

FFS, Morris, how is Gibson supposed to sue anyone if you go spouting stuff like that in public?

Except he can trigger his Right to be Forgotten under EU law to have this removed from any search rankings.

If the only place you can win is off the pitch I guess you have to celebrate what you can.

Or rebounded into the path of a small child and brought them joy.

Don't forget the fucking beach ball that hit the Karen Coach. That was proper dangerous.

Haven't been keeping up with things today. Has Karen Gibson started legal proceedings against anyone yet to undo the final?

Time to restructure to give themselves the biggest chance of promotion next season.

Karen FC were cheated. They only got 14 minutes of added time. Ref should be ashamed of himself for blowing up so early and denying us a pulsating final.

To quote Macbeth "if it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well it were done quickly". The longer we leave it the less time we have to do anything about it. Given that the FA is almost guaranteed to ban him anyway and they take forever to decide anything then hanging on as long as possible just puts pre-season at risk.

I think that's all of us 😉

Not sure the panel gets to make that recommendation. Their job is to decide the sporting sanction against Southampton, not how the EFL runs their competition.

That's going to be up to the FA. The EFL can only sanction organisations, not individuals. However, I'd imagine the FA do have that capability since he's clearly responsible for breaking one of the rules of the EFL, one of the organisations they have jurisdiction over.

We said any sanction should be grounded in the punishment handed out to Leeds.

A fact that Hull's lawyers are currently salivating over.

Well done for MLG levels of hair splitting.

The Canadian coaches were suspended by FIFA. Expecting the same sanction as Leeds in the light of that wasn't bright.

Last week, breaking a known rule in such a clumsy way where the punishment isn't well defined but teams and coaches have been suspended is fucking mental. This week, breaking a known rule in such a clumsy way where the punishment isn't well defined but teams and coaches have been suspended is fucking mental.

We cheated ourselves for apparently little benefit in an amateurish way. We handed the stick to Karen FC for them to beat us with.

I don't think Saints challenging the make up of the panel would've made much difference. They were sent in to do a job and they did that job. The problem comes because the EFL may need to defend that decision in court. Not against Southampton. Against Hull. If Hull lose tomorrow they have an argument that they were disadvantaged by the panel as they didn't know who they'd be playing. At which point saying "Southampton didn't complain" is worth fuck all in a court of law. Hull's lawyers will rightly point out that the EFL was responsible for ensuring that any panel was independent yet, even superficial, checks would have highlighted a former Middlesborough player and a lawyer from a firm used by Middlesborough. Both of those people should have recused themselves from the panel if they wanted to ensure that it could be viewed as independent. A failure of professionalism on their part. As the panel were keen to point out in their ruling it's vital that the integrity of the competition is maintained. If Hull lose they say they didn't have enough time to prepare for Boro. At which point the members of the panel just painted a nice shiny target on themselves. I would respectfully suggest it's a level of stupid unprofessionalism on a par with sending an intern with a camera to stand behind a tree to observe another team's training within 72 hours of a key football fixture. To put it in the language of the judgement "it's hard to see how a panel consisting of people with these connections could pass a decision effectively giving an advantage to Boro against Hull without opening themselves to the accusation of conflict of interest". Especially since Boro were allowed to make a submission to the panel about the outcome they wanted and Hull don't appear to have been invited to do the same. No, it's not going to change anything for Saints but fucking hell the EFL have utterly messed up here. Particularly if the process of choosing the panel is put under any scrutiny at all. A Boro director on the EFL board that choose an independent panel consisting of a former Boro player, a lawyer whose company does work for Boro and someone else. Good luck with the "I only played one game for Boro and it was a unanimous verdict" defence if that ever goes to court. Now the EFL have to pray that Hull win the final because this may not go away any time soon.

There's more amusement to be had if Karen FC win the final then Hull go to court and get it reversed.

Interns get treated abominably in many industries. Including the legal profession that puts incredible pressure on their interns to work crazy hours.

After catching up on the thread a few thoughts - We were guilty of the charges. There is no world in which the EFL has a change of heart. We have to deal with the consequences including the likely gutting of our coaching setup and first team squad. It sucks. That's life. - This kind of practice is widespread but that's no excuse for doing it or being so inept at doing it. - An independent panel means none of the people on the panel have connections to either club. If the EFL didn't manage this then the panel cannot considered to be independent which isn't due or fair process. Not that it matters because we were guilty but is indicative of the EFL's poor handling of the case. On the independence of the panel, this isn't relevant to Saints as our ship has sailed so to speak. But, it will be very relevant if Hull lose the final and decide to sue the EFL against the decision to give Karen FC a bye to the final. Lawyers have to abide by very strict conflict of interest rules - including avoiding the appearance that there may have been conflict of interest. A law firm will turn down business if they've had any previous business with the other party in a case for this reason. The fact that this didn't appear to happen is something that will be picked up upon by Hull's lawyers.

It reads like they were sent in there to come to a particular decision. Extra emphasis on junior staff members being pressured. They didn't say how they were pressured.

Even in the vanishingly unlikely even that the FA doesn't ban him, then no. Him staying on as a manager would be too much of a distraction on and off the pitch.

The Freedom of Information Act covers public bodies. So I imagine they'd just ignore all of them.