Midfield_General

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

According to....?

Tuesday then Care to comment? 🤣🤣🤣 Got to love these ITKs

Starting with forcing the play-off final to be moved until such time as the appeal is concluded. Yes, I'm sure everyone involved would love to have to handle that

Do you seriously think we would suspend our own first team manager before our two biggest games of the season, with hundreds of millions resting on the outcome, just because some kid had been silly enough to get caught doing it on public land with an iphone, whether other people were previously aware of it or not? Do people really still think football is squeaky clean?

Hopefully they'll announce the decision tomorrow and then Stockley Park will whisper in the chair's ear, make him go to the monitor, and then we all have to wait another four years while VAR* decides whether the decision stands or not (* Verified Arbitration Representatives)

Exactly - which was my original point. And the logic of that also means that we're not getting kicked out, because if they try and do that, we immediately appeal, which means the final can't be played and has to be moved. 👇

Gosh, what a lot of people suddenly have access to the evidence that hasn't yet been presented to a panel that hasn't sat yet