Sheaf Saint

Yes but they didn't do that. They 'expelled' us from the playoffs, which means there's probably a good argument to be made that the playoffs should have been re-run with Boro, Hull and Wrexham all moving up a place in the order.

Entrapment, no. But if they were knowingly sitting on the whistleblower's evidence, with the intention of using to their own advantage, then they have a very obvious case to answer for not acting in good faith.

I'll be surprised if it happens, but I'd love to see Boro win only to have it taken away from them on a technicality. Would be some poetic justice in that.

Good. Someone needs to challenge the absolute carve-up of putting Boro back in to the final. If they are going to claim that our expulsion was deserved on the basis of only seeking to gain an advantage but not actually gaining one, then they can't have it both ways.

I expect he did, yes

Along with Bill Murray, poised and ready to spring erect from his bed?

Yeah this needs investigating. At what point did he give the evidence to Boro? How long were they sitting on it?

It wouldn't surprise me.

Especially seeing as they've got a world cup to focus on next month. We can't afford to wait for their conclusions - we have to act and be seen clearly to be acting ASAP.

Indeed. Doesn't apply to me anymore, working in the public sector, because everything we do has to be 100% transparent. But when I worked in the private sector it was generally acknowledged that if you were going to cut corners and bend rules to get results, you'd better make damn sure you were smart about it and not get caught out. Cos if you did, and it ended up costing the company money to put right, then you would be the one to take the fall. It's no different here. Tonda oversaw a strategy of breaking rules to get ahead of the opposition. If he'd been clever about it and nobody had ever found out, then he would have been rewarded handsomely by the club if it had resulted in promotion, and nobody would even be discussing this. But he failed to anticipate the possible risks and it's cost us the chance of promotion (and all the riches that go with it) and brought shame and ridicule on the club. He can't survive this. He just can't.

Pannick on the streets of London?

There is that option, aye. But have you ever been there? No thanks.

We did beat them. I think that's rather the point.

Absolutely this.

The time has come for you to finally come down off that fence my friend. I know it's scary, breaking the habit of a lifetime. But we're all here to support you. You got this!

Yeah I'm minded to apply a general rule here, as is true in all walks of life, that if incompetence appears to be a reasonable explanation for something then it's almost guaranteed to be the right one. Especially when SR are involved.

Ha! A dark thought just crossed my mind about the next wave of Tonda-face AI head swapping, but I'm guessing even ChatGPT would consider that to be crossing a line of good taste 🤣

I take your point. But the reason most people were expecting a more lenient ruling is because the full facts of what had gone on weren't known. Once the extent of his involvement became evident, I don't think there was ever any possible alternative to expulsion. It's possible that a better legal team might have succeeded in avoiding that, on some kind of technicality perhaps. But it probably would have required an undertaking by the club to clean house and dismiss everyone involved. So even then, we'd have had no choice but to sack him anyway.

If SR care about rebuilding the club's reputation, they simply have to. And soon. Waiting for the inevitable ban he will get from the FA and saying "we had no choice" won't wash.

Well no, because if we'd got away with it then that would have meant him being cleared of any wrongdoing. Once it came to light what had happened and how he had acted then getting away with it was no longer possible.

I can't wait for the Panorama investigation, complete with pixelated analysts being interviewed and voiced by an actor. You know it's coming.

We naively and arrogantly believed we would just get a fine if we complied. What I cannot get my head round is us accepting the additional charges being brought on a Sunday, leaving us 48 hours before the hearing. Serious alarm bells should have been ringing by this point, but it seems our legal team were asleep at the wheel.

I don't think that's how 'taking the bullet' works. Unless our management are so mind-bogglingly inept that they can't even do that right.

Yep. They are either complicit, incompetent, or both (most likely). In either case, they need to go.

This is what happens when you promote the dry cleaning delivery boy above his station.