coalman

Look, people, I know we're all mad at the Boro fans right now but can you actually think of a worse punishment than being forced to live in Middlesbrough? Nothing we can think of for them compares with that irrespective of how the hearing turns out today.

Following both forums is an oddly surreal experience.

Sounds like we didn't offer that either.

That's it then. We're fucked.

Asking to be on the panel is crazy. Making a statement which reads as "decide the way we want or else" is brave to say the least.

Particularly if, as we've heard from a number of places, the analysts basically just go scout each other and it's business as usual.

The EFL is the only league with this rule. It's possible he simply didn't know the 72 hours rule.

About 4 days ago?

100% agree with this.

I think also to try and sue us. If they sue the EFL when they have clearly followed their own process they are doing themselves no favours. This has always been a shakedown of Saints.

I wouldn't celebrate just yet. All the panel has done is turned down a request that was never going to be accepted.

They are only not following the rules because we forced them to by not following the rules. This is our fault for forcing them to try and avoid following the rules.

I'd be very careful of telling the panel what the only thing it can decide is if I were Boro.

It's a tragedy that they weren't allowed to shoehorn themselves into the hearing in contravention of the regulations. Particularly given the vast amount of experience they have of acting as prosecution, judge and jury in this case already.

LOL https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/2026/may/15/club-statement-/ Middlesbrough FC notes the decision of the Disciplinary Commission not to permit the club to intervene in the proceedings brought by the EFL against Southampton FC. The club regrets that outcome, given we are directly affected by the matters under consideration and hold relevant factual evidence as to the events in question and their competitive impact. The conduct at issue, namely the observation and recording of our training session ahead of a fixture of such significance, goes to the heart of sporting integrity and fair competition. In these circumstances, the only appropriate response is a sporting sanction which would prevent Southampton FC from participating in the EFL Championship play-off final. We remain hopeful that the EFL, as regulator, will pursue such a sanction before the Disciplinary Commission in order to protect the integrity of the game, safeguard all member clubs, and deter any attempt in the future to obtain an unfair and unlawful advantage in pursuit of promotion to the Premier League.

Please don't speak ill of the Boro forum. It's my new north star

The Boro forum is a lot like the Daily Mail. You read enough of it and you start believing that's how the world is.

3-0 is the standard score if a game is forfeit as Boro would know after they didn't show up for a game in the EPL.

Yeah. I've never seen a team so desperate to win the game off the football pitch.

The current story doing the rounds on the Boro forum is someone's mate works for a company that sponsors the EFL and the EFL has to let them know what's happening and this guy is privy to all the emails flying around. The EFL have told them if found guilty the only two options are Boro win the tie 3-0 or Saints forfeit the final. Either way we get kicked out. There's meant to be a voice recording of this transcript. The Boro players were told this after the game and Hellberg knew before the game. The Saints players were also told this which is why our dressing room was silent after the game. https://fmttmboro.com/index.php?threads/breaking-news.81160/post-2193812 So it's official we are getting kicked out and it was decided before the second leg. Guess it's time to pack up our bags for the summer holidays.

Surely it depends on what his evidence is. I can see that being the case for witness statements but if he still has emails or anything like that it'd be a different matter.

If they do that then I think a lot of their previous and future judgements are going to be challenged and the EFL as a whole is going to turn into a litigation battlefield. Last thing the EFL wants is for more matches in the future to be fought in the courts rather than on the pitch. It's a veritable Pandora's Box for them whatever they decide. One thing I would expect out of this is they're likely to put some guidance and rules in teams respecting the sanctity of the process and not trying to influence their disciplinary process in the court of public opinion in future.

Unless I've missed something, I haven't seen any other club show interest in getting involved in that so far. A lot of rumours that this club or that club is supporting their case which turn out to be made up. Which indicates to me that other clubs don't see it as an issue or that it's a "there but for the grace of God go I" kind of situation.

Assuming that Hull are going to be pushovers would be foolish. They've beaten us this season and are really good at hitting teams on the break which is our kryptonite. On top of that they've ignored the noise and been completely focused on the final whereas we've been caught up in the media shit storm.