Ken Tone

I hear that the club is preparing a branded red and white sackcloth and ashes onesie for supporters to wear all next season's games. 😉

Clifford Chance are the top 'magic circle' firm of solicitors. And probably the most expensive!

Actually West ham's stadium will cost tawxpayers MORE next season. As I understand it, the crazy deal Boris Johnson gave them means they pay a proportion of their income. Less income next season means about £2.5 million less rent and therefore more stadium upkeep paid for by the public.

Regardless of whether we should sack eckert, it seems to me that the club don't want to. They could easily have done so by now, citing misconduct, damage to the club's public image etc. Feels like they're waiting to see if he suspended by the FA and if not .....

Yes, the sensible way to expel us would have been to change the result of the first leg to a 3-nil win. But they didn't. They just expelled us. Hull's argument is that expelling us doesn’t mean Boro should be back in. They say if we were 'expelled' from the playoffs, Wrexham should have been brought in at 6th place instead of us and played Millwall whilst Hull played Boro in the semi finals as 4th and 5th Complete chaos!

So unless the FA persuades FIFA otherwise which seems unlikely, Eckert can just toddle off back home with a reputation as a winner and get himself a well paid job in the bundesleague Not much of a sanction is it.

If the FA ban Eckert, does that apply just to England, or to Europe, or worldwide football? Could he get a job straight away in Germany for example?

Feel similarly. And with my back, can hardly manage to walk away anyway nowadays! 😉

The trouble is we won't be able to tell the honest leaks from the wind ups

Coffee and biscuits break would be more pleasant surely? 😉

I fear we won't hear for a long time yet . I'd guess decision late afternoon told to clubs then a cagey period with possible (correct and false!) leaks before we hear either very late today, or tomorrow. Who cares about fans? 🤬

Oh, you mean with sophisticated surveillance equipment? 😉

Quite. Must have been taken from fairly close to be that quality. Surely he'd have seen he was being photographed, and reacted. Not just stood there holding his phone up.

I suspect the Boro response to you would be to say that they should be awarded the first game as a 3-0 win, thereby winning the tie overall as a 4-2 aggregate..... resulting in us being effectively chucked out. And that would set a 3-0 precedent for future ordinary league games. However that would also be a potential legal minefield because if we'd known before the second leg that we were 3-0 down, we'd have played differently in the second, taking risks and going hell for leather to score 4. Awarding it as a 3-0 win *after* the second leg disadvantages us unreasonaby. So we could use that in an appeal. All round the EFL have really cocked things up by setting a rule without setting a standard punishment for breaking it.

Surely there is no way we could be kicked out? It's clearly too late to do anything before Wembley, given the decision won't be for a while AND we'd have the right to appeal. If there was any attempt to award the game to Hull afterwards, Boro could argue that they might have beaten them in the final and demand a new game. Chaos Surely the most likely outcome is a fine plus at worst something like a points deduction next season (or next time in championship) with maybe a suspension for someone on the backroom staff.

Think that was Zippy.

Clearly we just need to employ the same lawyers as Man City.

Do we know the kick off time yet?

Yes I think he is But the Guardian isn't a Labour paper. Traditionally it's Liberal.

What strikes me is that we clearly didn't gain anything from any information gained. We played our usual team, in our usual formation...... no changes to counteract any tactic or formation of theirs. About the only potentially useful thing we might have learnt was that Hackney(?) wasn't fit. If he had been, maybe we'd have detailed someone to man mark him.... maybe

Step 4 , call people from Teeside Geordies. They hate that nearly as much as people from Sunderland.

It's not even for an upgrade that I want promotion now it looks close. I really don't fancy the PL. Far fewer games for a start, and constantly messed about by TV and other clubs' european games. Plus bloody VAR. But it's more that if we don't go up, we'll probably lose some of our best players. And gradually go into decline to become a mid-table so-so club. What's better .... a so-so championship club or a yo-yo PL/championship one? 😒

And his near-miss bicycle kick was bloody impressive too.

Lived in Manchester for a while many years ago. In those days , with city very much second best to united , their fans were genuine fans and nearly all local. Whereas at old Trafford you could see lots of ' home' fans coaches from Surrey etc. In the early days of their success I was actually quite pleased for the long-suffering city fans I used to work with. But nowadays they're swamped by the plastics. Summed up by the couple in city colours who came in on our tube carriage from where they lived in Central London, who I suspect had never been to Manchester.

As long as we beat Ipswich, we'll be above Middlesbrough on goal difference or goals scored, so it's very slightly better than that. If we then beat Preston, either Ipswich or Millwall need to win, or 'Boro need not just to win, but to win by by more than we do ...... I think! 😉