trousers

Yep, he's saying what a lot of us have already been highlighting: this 'spying' malarkey is almost certainly rife across the board. Most teams must do it. It's just one of those things that everybody knows happens and is largely tolerated because everyone does it. The only difference here is that, potentially, Middlesbrough saw it as an opportunity to gain an advantage in the playoff games by unsettling our players and preparation as much as possible. And, to be fair, they've played a blinder. (I still think there might be something in the honey trap theory in this regard) I just hope that the 'independent panel' take the likelihood of this being more widespread into account when dishing out the recommended punishment.

I guess "the top" is open to interpretation here... Obviously the very top of the organisation is Dragan, but Tonda, for example, could be considered 'the top' in the context of just the coaching staff. There's a big difference if this means "there was no order from Dragan / Parsons, the order came from Spors / Tonda" and "there was no order from Spors / Tonda" I guess you can't say exactly what you mean by "from the top" yet @LeG?

That idea was floated in jest by some at the outset, but, as it's since been suggested that one thing we might have been trying to get an insight into is their penalty taking, then that would of course have been reconnaissance for the second leg, and outside the 72 hour embargo... You never know I guess... (That said, I think it's fairly obvious the primary reason for someone being there was to establish the situation with regards Hackney's fitness)

Plot twist: could he have also been involved in instigating the whole thing....? #honeytrap

It's only the outcome of the first leg that's in the frame here. The second leg was outside the 72 hour embargo period...

I'll send someone up to have a look...

How about this as a movie plot....? It turns out the the whistleblower fella, aggrieved due to being recently sacked by Saints, set about framing our spy chap by telling him that Middlesbrough didn't mind analyst's from other clubs watching their training sessions, even within the 72 hour embargo window.... Being familiar with the Middlesbrough training complex, he told our guy exactly when and where to stand, where best to get changed, where to get a coffee... And the whistleblower then positioned himself ready to take the perfect photo of the 'spy' himself... Revenge mission complete... maybe call the movie "You've Been Framed"....?

Is it Dusty Bin?

Correct

"Magic Man" is indeed a Well-known member...

Reading back at posts on a Boro forum from a few days ago, this whistleblower fella Jason Taylor took down his LinkedIn page at around the same time that our 'spy' Will Salt took down his... Coincidence? Not sure why Taylor would feel the need to delete his LinkedIn page given he's not done anything wrong... #makeofthatwhatyouwill

Middlesbrough not involved in the process...?

Yeah, makes sense 👍🏻

Hull down as the designated home team then...?

Is an ex-employee of a given club allowed to pass on confidential information to another club if said information is deemed to uncover a wrong-doing, or is all information confidential regardless of it's status? In other words, could Middlesbrough be in possession of information through improper means? Unless said analyst passed the info directly to the EFL I guess...?

I'm starting to compile a list of all clubs who have possibly done this spying malarkey themselves... #solidaritycomrades

And Saints could possibly also counter-accuse other teams for doing the same thing...

Keep up Maggie me ol' mucker...

Indeed... The instruction could have been: "Go and watch Middlesbrough training this week but make sure you don't stray into the 72 day embargo period"

It's not the 'spy' that was allegedly sacked, but the supposed whistleblower....

The trouble is, if Tonda finds a post-it note on his desk that says: "Hayden Hackney isn't going to play tomorrow" it doesn't take a genius to work out how that information was likely gleaned... Ye olde 'ignorance is not a defence'...?

I'd also like to know the answer to this question too. What is the remit of this 'independent panel'... Is it: (a) To simply adjudicate whether or not we're in breach of the two EFL regulations in question? (b) To adjudicate as per (a) but also to decide the severity of the breach(s)? (c) Both the above, and also to decide upon the punishment(s)?

So you're saying that this is 50% worse than Leicester's 3 years worth of financial irregularities, given they only got a 6 point deduction for that...?