trousers

The forum thought police are going to be after you for even contemplating the likes of Frank... Brave move sir! #unhinged

I'm struggling to think of a more heinous crime than being unhinged on a football forum at the moment... Will get back to you if I think of one...

I'm torn... There's amusement to be had with either outcome...

### UNHINGED OPINION KLAXON ### 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Indeed... Woe is me! 😂 That said, I do actually enjoy the forum contrarians... Superb entertainment value for £5/year... ("We're not contrarians, it's just a different opinion, innit")

I agree. People's argument for him getting an FA sanction, when Bielsa didn't, seems to be: "Well, the EFL have a new rule"... But, surely, if the FA were to follow due process (no sniggering at the back!) then what the EFL (or any football association they oversee) have in their rulebook shouldn't influence how the FA consider the matter. Surely the FA have their own 'rulebook' to guide them on this, and if the rules in said FA rulebook haven't changed in this area since 2019, then they're duty bound to treat Eckert and Bielsa the same, aren't they? (In fact, in terms of what has been admitted to and/or is known so far, Bielsa committed much more indiscretions than Eckert)

Anyone in camo gear though...?

One word: "Whistleblower"...

Given the ineptitude of our leadership, I admire your confidence in their ability to have done what Gibson and co did! I'd put a sizeable wedge on us also f***ing things up had the boot was on the other foot...

Totally... Solak should have been in a radio studio ASAP yesterday... Yes, I get that he had to speak to players / staff first... But there's enough f***ing hours in the day to have a meeting and an interview.... Sport Republic have previous when it comes to 'going to ground' in moments of adversity (ref: Spors ducking out of planned interviews during the Will Still debacle) so it's hardly surprising they're cowering away in their bunkers right now...

Fair point 👍🏼

It's almost as if some posters put their 'moral superiority' over the natural instinct of a supporter to be inquisitive and/or sceptical about the wider context. (And, yes, of course there's an element of bias and/or 'Saints tinted glasses' in this, but show me a football fan that isn't biased towards their club in some shape or form... Unless you're trying to look 'clever' on a football forum of course... )

Or, people are capable of looking at both sides of a situation, without trying to "deflect" from what we did.... In fact, most posts pondering on Middlesbrough's conduct nearly always condone our bad conduct in the same post. So, if anything, when people question Middlesbrough's 'sly' tactics, they aren't deflecting from what we did, they're actually emphasizing what we did at the same time...

'They' being the EFL. I was talking about the FA... A completely separate body to the EFL, with their own rulebook. The fact that the EFL have a new rule for this misdemeanor shouldn't be a consideration for the FA. They should be looking at it through the same prism they did for Bielsa / Leeds. Edit: anyway, looks like we'll probably sack him before the FA get their pound of flesh, so a moot discussion anyway... Plus I've had far too many beers this evening... Hic

Even though we were wrong to do what we did, I'm still finding it slightly odd that the EFL seemingly don't have a dim view on how Boro seemingly engaged in entrapment. Just because we did wrong, doesn't absolve Boro of doing 'wrong' too, does it...?

I'm guessing he didn't get as far as watching the first team before he fell into Boro's trap ... Oops Sorry... Before he was "caught"... but it's the intent that counts, not what he actually ended up seeing, of course...

As I've said all along (give me a medal FFS!), the reality was always likely to be more unbelievable than some of the 'bonkers' conspiracy theories...

Yep, as we guessed at the time. Pretty obvious that's what we were up there for.

I think they went for the clowns rather than the juggler....

Indeed... It's not really "journalism" these days, just "reporting".... Regardless of our wrong doing, there's plenty of 'interesting' stories that could be investigated here, but you know that they won't...

Really? FFS... Gibson and co have played an absolute blinder here... Stitch up indeed.

That's an EFL rule. I'm talking about the FA here... A complety separate organisation with their own rule book. What FA rule(s) have changed, that cover this area, since they decided not to sanction Bielsa / Leeds for doing the same type of spying activities?