S-Clarke

It would be messy, because if they did that it would be because they'd have evidence this is 'systemic' - which would then call into question Wrexham, Derby etc who just missed out on the playoffs. They'd then call that one of those replaces us and get a shot to go to Wembley. There is no easy route to 'expelling' us, because it will just open an entire can of worms which would ripple the league, delay and completion and put the start of the season and competition in jeopardy. We will be allowed to compete, we will be allowed to get promoted, but I'm fairly sure they will slap us with a fine. The worst case is probably a fine and a suspended points deduction.

There is no way they can build any solid evidence, and a response from us, by Tuesday on point 2. It's impossible. Trying to whip up feedback from all other Championship teams is a desperate attempt by Middlesbrough, because they have now realised that in isolation what we did at Boro was stupid, yes, but it really isn't the crime of the century and it won't provide them the free passage to the final they so clearly want. We've had so many variations of this story. 1) Someone was hiding in the bushes 2) They'd broken into the Middlesborough training ground to film sessions. 3) Someone was in a field with high tech surveillance and spying equipment, microphones to pic up audio from meters away. 4) The actual picture, showing a kid behind a tree with an IPhone on a public right of way and nothing else. So why did they make up 1, 2 and 3? It's because they're desperate, they wanted to use this to create an advantage and they have used all of their tools and contacts to rile up any media contacts they have to pump the journo's with it. If Boro are shown up to have blown this up and tried to 'exaggerate things', including digging up personal info, dragging someone's career through the mud and the clubs name through the gutter to make it seem worse than it was, then I hope both the Intern and ourselves sue the fuckers to the hilt for deformation and reputational damages.

I would say the penalty against Matsuki would have been given if it was VAR - almost certainly. We got lucky with that one. I thought the pull back on Stewart in front of our goal was blatant, and equally it was a really clumsy tackle on Larin in the penalty box. Larin had got ahead of him, their player missed the ball and just cut over him. Maybe it would have been 'soft', but it would have probably been given with VAR. The ref had a bad game in that regard, he missed a few big calls for either side. I notice Boro think we paid him off though, so we'll probably get a charge for that soon.

That picture is absolutley hilarious, it's just like I said it was - a kid with an iPhone on a public hill/behind a public tree taking some pictures of a training session that is on full view to any member of the public. That is it. Now tell me, please, what kind of sporting advantage anyone is going to gain from grainy IPhone footage? I know the 17 pro max has a decent zoom, but this is no 'professional grade video equipment' by any means. As every day goes on, Boro make themselves look more desperate and more idiotic by the hour. I listened to their managers press conference earlier, he was almost crying. Crying that all the work they do, so many hours, doesn't see his family, and it can all be undone by cheating. Hang on a fucking second. You battered us at your place in the first half, you had 17 shots on goal in the first half. You hit the post. You missed a chance right in the centre of goal, you had a shot cleared off the line. You were second in the table for 217 days, and finished 5th. How did we cause any of that to happen? We didn't. Simple. It's still funny, but they're really starting to wind me up now - and all the media cronies too. If you look, it's only the North East reporters who have such strong views - listen to neutral views and it's very much 'over reaction', 'it's a bit of poor form, that's all'. I can't wait for the crying when they find out their season is actually over, and no - it's not because of us, it's because you bottled the Top 2 and can't finish for dinner. Now STFU and go back to bed.

He was much better tonight, pulled Fry around a bit by running the channels - rather than staying static down the middle. He's a proper pest of a CF, I'll stand by my thought in that he's not the most refined striker - but physically he has all the tools, pace, power, strength.

They have all been a bit pathetic about it, it probably happened and we were dumb to get caught out doing whatever we were doing - but they have 110% used this to 'try' and carry the team to Wembley, they've blown this out of all proportion to try and give them an edge. It probably slightly did, but sadly for them they can't finish their dinner. I don't quite understand why there is talk of expulsion or anything like that, the media keep pitching it in the post match stuff. It's nonsense. That isn't going to happen. It will be a fine now, and if there are any footballing sanctions (which is a big if - bans/touchline bans or points) then it will be applied to next season. I know Boro's argument is 'how does that help us', well I'd suggest they could have helped themselves by staying in the Top 2 or finishing their chances in the 1st leg. And also, isn't it somewhat fun to be hated? We've always been seen as this soft, provisional, nondescript club who just goes about it's things - Mr Nice guy in football circles. But I actually quite like us being hated like this, it adds a bit of spice to it all.

Ignoring all the spy gate and fan nonsense and just talking about football, I thought they're a really well coached side. They made it really hard for us to get any space, or make any real dangerous openings. When they had their moments, they used the ball really well too and are a pretty tidy footballing side. Their finishing is what's cost them over the season though, they've just not been clinical enough. They blew their chance in the first half at their place, and it was the story of the season. Their fans have acted a bit weird, but I think from a footballing point of view they gave us as good a game we've had in a long time - and they'll probably do well next season if they add a couple of centre forwards.

What a fucking night that was, my nerves are absolutley shot. I felt weirdly nervous all afternoon too, as nervous as I've felt about a game for a very long time. The early goal from them didn't bloody help either, it was a rubbish start from us again and they had us pinned up field for the first portion of that half. It definitely wasn't as relentless as it was at the Riverside, but they did settle into the game quicker. But the same theme seemed to occur, they tire themselves out too early and it allows us to just creep back into the game. I think from about 30mins onwards, they didn't really step forward did they? I don't remember any scary moments beyond the first 30 mins. For us, I felt we huffed and puffed quite a bit. Middlesbrough sat back in a shape after they scored, and it was hard for us to find space - we were never going to score a ''footballing'' or direct open play goal against them, just based on how well they were setup. Credit to them for that, they made it very, very tough. The goal just before HT was absolutley massive, everything changed on that. We completely took over that second half, but we just didn't create enough openings - I always felt it was going to be a crappy goal that was going to bobble in or something. As ET ticked down, my nerves were in bits to be honest. I was pretty much preparing my mind for penalties, and then Charles comes up with another moment - it's exactly the sort of goal I thought would win it, a weird cross shot that no one dealt with and it just went in. He didn't mean that. It felt like it was another 90 mins played after Charles goal, but we stood firm and sure - they threw bodies up, hit shots, pot shots etc, but we were throwing ourselves at everything. Overall though, these two legs have been absolutley box office. So, so different to the WBA games a few years ago - that was such an easy/calm game in comparison! But these two games were such enthralling viewing, so much happening, so many moments and so, so, so tight right up until almost the last kick. MOTM for me was THB - I don't know what happened with him and Ayling, but commenting on just his performance as a defender and a captain - COLLOSUAL. Absolutely colossal. That is the THB who played for England and will play for England again if he continues that level. Onto Wembley then, again. The most important thing now is for everyone to get a bit of rest, couple of days downtime and some TLC on the likes of Leo/Jander etc. A mention for Jander actually, he could have also been MOTM - the guy is a machine, his fitness levels are ridiculous. A proper midfielder.

This has been a cracking end to the season across all the leagues really, even down to Non-League with that Rochdale and York craziness. Spurs could have had 1 foot in the PL last night had they won that, but WHU still have a chance if they beat Newcastle. If Spurs have to go to Stamford bridge next week, after WHU dump them in the bottom 3, that could be delicious viewing for everyone. It still think it'll be WHU myself, but where there's a chance we can still dream. Millwall surprised me last night, they were naff. That'll hurt them. Hull were excellent and McBurnie is exactly the sort of player who is our kryptonite, so if we do face Hull it won't be a walk in the park.

I think it's fair to say they overextended themselves a bit in the first half, and didn't come away with anything to show for it - they were definitely on their last legs in the final throws of the 2nd half. That's why they all looked so deflated at the end. I'm sure they've had enough time to recover though, they'll pose a similar threat I'm sure on the break I fear. But we just need to make sure we're not as bad as we were in the first half.

This is the sort of narrative which seems to be going a bit more mainstream now, some sense at last.

I thought Simon Jordan was spot on with how he summarised it earlier. What we have 'potentially' done is poor form, not great taste, but certainly not the crime of the century. He's spot on really, what sporting advantage are you seriously going to gain from taking a couple of pics and audio from a single training session? It clearly didn't work anyway, as they did us 4-0 earlier in the season and pummelled us in the first half at the weekend. EFL will just slap us with a fine, slap on the wrists. Watch yourself etc etc. Job done. Middlesbrough are embarrassing themselves here, if this had happened to us and people like Adam Blackmore and Alfie were acting like this in the media I'd be cringing like fuck. As Simon Jordan said, they've got an excuse if they fail to get to the final now. The fans will suddenly forget the failure of being in t he Top 2 for 217 days and failing to finish there, and all of a sudden the furore is deflected to a 'third party'. They'll probably keep the charade going for a good week or so if we get through too.

Raya was being grabbed on the shirt by Todibo, and had Pablo's arm stretched across his neck - Raya had two hands on the ball and would have claimed it, but couldn't get full control because he was having his shirt pulled and someone else pinning their arm across his neck. I thought it was fairly clear to me. Goalkeepers are always afforded protection to a degree, and you can't really say that he hasn't been impeded from having a clean claim of that ball. Big call, the right call and some positive press for VAR for a change - impossible for the ref to have spotted that in real time, so VAR showed it's worth there. If I was a WHU fan I'd just take that on the chin really, no conspiracy, no bribes - just accept that Fernandes blew your biggest chance.

The authorities have now located our sophisticated spy equipment, which was foolishly left discarded in the hotel toilets. No way out of this now.

Imagine that on the CAS desk. Right next to the huge pile of Manchester City charges sits a much more serious lone charge for Southampton, because we sent a kid onto a public hill with an IPhone camera. Feels a legit outcome.

Personally I think it's backfired on them, I'm not denying this spy gate shit happened and it's a pretty big own goal from us in that sense. It gave them an opportunity to create an 'edge' and unsettle us, but I think they overplayed on it and tried to make much more of it than it was to try and give them an edge on the day IMO - rile up the fans, build the atmosphere, create a siege mentality. It almost happened first half. That first half was probably as good as they've played all season, and as bad as we've played all season - the likelihood of both those scenarios playing out again on Tuesday isn't impossible, but quite slim I'd say. The overriding feeling is that we were dumb enough to give them some ammunition, they tried to milk it and play on it, but didn't quite manage to execute it on the pitch. The whining from their fans and the manager after the game is making them look more panicked and desperate than anything else right now.

I've never really given a shit about Middlesbrough to be honest, they've always just been 'there' and pretty nondescript - but it turns out they have a bunch of seriously special fans. A really, really weird bunch.

Norwich v Leeds ended 0-0 that year too in the first leg, Norwich edged it iirc. But everyone said at the time WBA and Norwich had missed their opportunity, and that turned out to be true.

We'll get a fine, a slap on the wrist have to endure a terrible first 45 due to them being riled up (which we did) and that will be that. The football will do the talking at the end of the day either way, the advantage we could have gained from this is negligible to say the least, if anything they gained the advantage because they used it as a bit of fuel - but they didn't even make the most of it. it's just not worth the fuss.

Has anyone checked on Pilchards whareabouts?

I don't know what the press were thinking he was going to say? What are they hoping to get from him? It was the same as the Sky reporter, trying to coax a reaction out of him, portraying it like we've done some sort of heinous crime. Someone stood on top of a public hill and took some photos. Boro and the Media need to get over themselves.

The home games are always so important in the playoffs. I personally think Boro will be kicking themselves, they'll be so dejected after that (they looked it). They gave everything in that first half, so much so that they were blowing out of their arses in the 2nd half - so they exerted all of that, but have nothing to show. I think Hull will have similar regrets from last night, they didn't really make the most of their home game. When we played Derby in 2006 we lost the home game, even though we battled through in the 2nd leg to bring it to penalties it was always a bit of a tall order because of how we wasted that home game (well, and how Billy Davies got his players to kick Bale out of Southampton) Bring on Tuesday.

The first half was honking in terms of an attacking or threatening performance, but defensively I thought we were excellent - especially THB, all throughout that game. Some crucial blocks from Bree too, great couple of saves from Pertez. We had to ride the storm. There was always going to be a storm, their players were wound up, stoked up, they were always going to come out blazing - I don't think anyone expected us to be so passive about it though, we didn't even try to get in their faces. We escaped that first half through sheer luck and some heroic determination, it has to be said. It wasn't the sort of half we'll remember, but those sort of back to the wall performances often mean a lot more in the bigger picture. 2nd half was better, the biggest change up wasn't the players per-say - we started playing higher up the pitch, we kept getting stuck down in the flanks in the first half and Fellows was right up next to Bree - so we never had an outlet. We started the 2nd half better, they did come into it a little bit after that, but ultimately we regained the control of the game. Amazingly we could have won it somehow. Larin wasn't great, but I think he struggled because we weren't high enough, he was holding it up well but no one was ever close enough to him to feed off the scraps or the 2nd balls, so whilst it looked like he was always giving it away...I don't think anyone got close enough or higher up around him to actually make use of what we were trying to do. Fellows was poor, too weak on the ball and he caused Bree so many problems in that first half because he kept losing the ball. Leo didn't have his best game, nor did Azaz - but ultimately that's because for most of that game, certainly the first half, we didn't play high enough so they never got into the game, there was never any space for the attackers. If you told me we'd have a 0-0 earlier today, and certainly at HT, I'd have said thanks...we'll take that, no dramas. Because of the first half it feels like a bit of a victory, because I noticed the Boro fans and players - they looked so dejected at the end, downtrodden in fact. Even their manager was a bit resigned at the end, talking about needing a bigger squad profile. If we start hard and fast on Tuesday, just like they did against us, we'll have the tie done before they can even realise they're in Southampton IMO.

Are they really that desperate for a rivalry up there? Forever in Newcastle and Sunderland's shadows, they're fairly nondescript really. It's a bit like Bournemouth trying to stoke up a South Coast rivalry with us, 3's a crowd and all that.

Well exactly, unless we've admitted it privately no idea. But either way, it's all a load of nonsense really. Predicably played by a team who feel they need to create a hostile environment, as they couldn't trust their fans to bring it themselves.