Midfield_General

He'd be a much more intimidating gangsta if he didn't so closely resemble Keith Harris (Pictured here with Kim Hellberg)

The panel are a completely different body, chaired by a KC The whole point of having it done by them is that the EFL is full of conflicts of interest

Not really apples with apples is it - fielding ineligible players vs. standing in a bush on public land with an iphone

Not to get political, but it's some Trumpian shit - waaah waaah waaaah I should be allowed to do whatever I like and everyone should be forced to let me

One last roll of the dice and attempt to sway the court of public opinion (brought to you by Talksport and the Middlesbrough Gazette) because they've tried everything else and are realising that the panel aren't having their bullshit and it's not going to go their way.

You'd be like the new Bea Smith from Prisoner Cell Block H

Whatever happens to us, once the dust has settled on this I really, really hope we come back at them and rain down on them with the full force of righteous vengeance, furious anger and fucking expensive lawyers for how they've conducted themselves. They've made it so personal between the clubs now and have gone way beyond how most clubs would raise an issue for resolution. I hope we sue the fucking shit out of them, and that Dragan goes after Gibson personally. I know who I'm backing in a scrap between a Serb who's happy to go toe-to-toe with Putin, and some compo faced little cunt from Middlesbrough who looks like Jeannette Krankie without the charisma

Blimey, they're sailing close to the wind with that. It's hilarious that they are trying to suggest they should be allowed to 'sit in' and influence the process, which would of course go against all the rules they are so keen to make sure are scrupulously upheld at all times. They're leaking content of the enquiry, publicly now rather than anonymously through journalists. Which is more evidence for our own legal team to come at them with after this for attempting to influence the proceedings. Dickheads

The EFL statement said it will be 'on or before' Tuesday. So assuming they will use all the time available to them, expect news on Tuesday. So we've got four more days of speculation, lies, people pretending to be ITK, and James Corden.

Yep. Classic goal of any negotiation - everyone leaves feeling slightly annoyed that they didn’t get exactly what they wanted but are given just enough that they can accept it.

Against their own independent panel that they appointed? That would be hilarious

Exactly. It's a World Cup year. And that's just one of so many enormous legal and logistical knock-ons that it's just not realistic as an option.

That's my understanding, yes. But we won't know for sure until probably Tuesday. So everything is in limbo until then. Which is what Hull are getting arsey about, quite understandably.

Exclusion is possible. It is an option that is on the table. That's been very well documented. What do you think all the hoo haa is about? It is however very very very unlikely. For exactly the reasons you say, plus the logistical knock-on. Which is why it won't happen.

Nope. Verdict will be delivered 'on or before' next Tuesday. So assuming they use all the time available to them, that means it will probably be on Tuesday. At that point, the scenarios are: 1. Verdict doesn't include Saints expulsion, Saints reaction is to accept the punishment = game goes ahead as planned on 23rd, Saints vs. Hull. 2. Saints punishment is expulsion, Saints reaction to it is almost guaranteed to be an immediate appeal = game postponed until such time as the appeal process has played out. No-one knows when that will be. 3. Saints punishment isn't expulsion but is some other draconian measure that they may still want to appeal like £5m fine and -15pts or something mad = not sure. As we hadn't been expelled, the game would go ahead as planned on 23rd, Saints vs. Hull, and the usual EFL Section 8 rules would mean that we would have a further 14 days from the day of the verdict to decide whether we want to appeal it or not. So under those rules we could play the game, then appeal the punishment afterwards, if we wanted to. However, I'm not sure whether the usual 14 day rule applies here because of the 'expedited timeline'. No idea. Scenario 2 is the worst one for everyone, including the EFL, because of the absolute logistical carnage of a) having to postpone the play-off final, b) not knowing when it will need to be rescheduled for, and c) not knowing when they will know that. It's total unchartered territory and is such a nightmare for everyone involved that if I was a betting man I'd bet a pound to a penny that we won't get expelled, if only because of that. One thing I do know is that there is no scenario whatsoever where the verdict is Saints get expelled and Boro get reinstated in our place and play Hull on 23rd. Boro's reinstatement in any form is vanishingly unlikely as an option in the first place, and then the fact that Saints would appeal would mean that there simply wouldn't be a game on 23rd and everyone would just have to wait until the appeal was over to see what happens next. So the Boro team continuing to train because they think they might play in the final is either just total bullshit designed to add another layer to keep it in the headlines, or just a complete waste of their time and energy. They aren't playing a game on 23rd whatever happens.

No offence, but you haven’t seen it suggested anywhere because it’s a fucking stupid suggestion that an 8 year old would think of Or James Corden

Errr, yes they can. Saints can. It’s called an appeal process. They can, they should and they will. And it would result in the final having to be moved. Which is why expulsion won’t happen. Saying ‘Rules are rules’ in football is the most pathetic argument imaginable. Every team and club, at every level, bends or outright ignores rules every day trying to get an advantage.

I really wouldn't worry about it. At the end of the day, it's just a load of blokes who should know better taking football way too seriously (and I count myself in that) and getting a bit silly about a kid standing in a hedge with an iphone. It's only football and the whole thing is tomorrow's fish and chip paper. This will get sorted next week, then something else will happen and everyone will move along and forget about it. It's just the circle of life/ football/ the internet. Love and light

Can't believe people are still reacting to stuff being posted on Boro forums by anonymous internet dickheads Come on lads, seriously 🤣

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How old are you?

Or that Will Still was, somehow, even more shit than we thought previously and couldn't even win when someone was literally telling him what the opposition were going to do

Gibson's negotiation technique is aggression and relentless bullying. One well-known quote up there was from when he was threatening to sue PD Ports (the Middlesbrough port) over a land dispute and said: "I want your walls and I want the eyes out of your head; I want the fucking roof off your house. I want your kids out of private school. I want the shoes off your feet." He gives it the man of the people shtick but underneath it he's a bully and a cunt, and I hope our legal team call his bluffs, hold him accountable for how he has tried to use the media to influence this process, and take him and his pointless club to the fucking cleaners.

Personally, I blame this on Eric Black