S-Clarke

Didn't Martin O'Neil say he's staying on? God knows.

Big news. Injunction started. Lord Pannick has just arrived.

Do you know what a manager is? Liam does. It's man-age. He's aging men. Absolute genius that bloke. But no, please. I didn't want him when he was at Strasburg either. a Hipster nothing. He'd make a good Sports phycologist though, and we may need that after this summer.

Twatter.

I cannot see any way an injection is any sort of possibility. It's too late. Fans have already travelled, players are already there. $$$$$$ talks and that will mean it will not be stopped by any injuction. At this point the club should stop trying that angle and own it and start rebuilding what they've trashed.

How can you say that? Sadly I think this is the view the people at the club are taking too, and it's wrong. The club are bound by all EFL rules at the start of every season, it's part of the clubs 'share' when they come into the league. They should be aware of all the rules as part of the agreement with the league, so not knowing the rules is the weakest defence they could have actually presented. And the fact this is what they presented is one of the most embarrassing elements.

I'm starting to wonder if the FAB were actually our defence.

I've just reported these points to our lawyers, but it seems as if who was presenting us has had a change of career overnight.,

They are also dirty scheming bastards, who played their own non-football game here. Justice is for Hull to win and I will be rooting for them. The outcome of our offence shouldn't have been to give Boro the opportunity to win the biggest footballing prize in the world, given that it wasn't just them wronged. It should have been to ensure sporting integrity. By expelling us proclaiming sporting integrity, they've created their own sporting integrity mess should Boro win.

We all know football is crooked, it's corrupt to shit. You just have to be shrewd to know how to play it, and then respond to it if you're ever 'caught red handed'. What we did wasn't the crime of the century, but ultimately how we handled it was probably the worst I've ever seen. Corruption is rife, but it's how you own it, execute it and deal with it that matters. We failed on all 3 because we are owned by baffoons.

I think the biggest gripe here is that this game has been decided off the pitch, Hull fans believe the same. What we did was stupid, we are totally guilty, bang to rights, utter morons. But equally, the orchestrated media campaign by Boro to expose this has been just as murky, dirty and certainly not 'in good faith'. Boro felt wronged, I get that, totally. But they had 2 games to put that right on the football pitch, and this is football at the end of the day. They couldn't put it right on the football pitch, so they went nuclear off the pitch and beat us off of it instead. In essence, they had 4 legs to beat us - not 2. The issue with the result is that it seems to have purely favoured Middlesborough, not sporting integrity or fans. Just what Middlesborough wanted. It wasn't just Boro we had done this to, but they've used it in a way so they get the maximum reward for the fallout and in the same throw penalise Hull, Wrexham and Derby to a degree. The EFL have handled this terribly from the start, but my feeling is that they decided on expulsion the moment Boro cried to them, and it was up to us to convince them otherwise - but once the Boro media machine got going, we were KO and couldn't even get back up to mount a defence.

We've managed everything about this wrong, and we seem to now also be managing the aftermath wrong. Why have the only true, personal, candid words been from the players? (A couple of players). Why haven't the club immediately contacted local media to front up what's happened here and immediately try to swing the narrative? I get we are guilty, bang to rights, but at least try to protect yourself and come out of it with some dignity. Immediately showing strength by coming out and speaking, removing people, or at least 'suspensions', would have been the least to expect up to this point. To have so far said nothing, other than them still saying it was disproportionate (it was, but that's not the point) is another sorry affair with SR and their 'machine'. Fucking own it SR, talk to the people candidly about what has gone on here. We don't want corporate bullshit or woe be me platitudes, we need to see and hear action - and so far, it's about as silent as our defence.

Believe it or not, this also happened at the 2014 World Cup, which Germany won - and who was an analyst with them? Oh yeah. World Cup 2014: Fifa investigating France training ground 'drone' - BBC Sport France were always likely to play Germany during the knockouts, which they did - and Germany won fwiw. Makes you wonder. That crazy Brazil 1- 7 Germany game happened in that tournament too. What the actual.

Absolutley, it goes on. Not denying that, rules are rules though and we were stupid enough to be so blatant about it and daft enough to walk into it and get caught, everyone else is much more savvy about it. On the Boro point, what they did was murky but again - it's the same consequence if you zoom out, they've played a trick to try to gain a sporting advantage. We tried to spy to gain a sporting advantage. Both, to me, are equally wrong - and like you say, it happens everywhere all the time. The PR/Media manipulation stuff does too. As a club we were just not grown up enough to play either game, so I don't know why we even got involved.

Not sure if anyone noticed - David Winnie, he was on the appeal board. Former Boro player. Ok, a stretch, as he hardly played if at all during a tiny spell...but still, the point stands. Was there not anyone they could have found without ANY former boro connection?

It's been the same argument since day one, they don't learn from any mistakes. They're either arrogant and think they're always right, or they're incompetent. Sadly I think it's both.

I don't think it's fair to say it's worse than anything we've done, but certainly equal in terms of trying to seek an unfair sporting advantage through somewhat murky ways. Difficult to prove ways, but still equally murky. I'm fully on board with the Hull should be promoted outright theory, I know their manager didn't want that and they want to go up fair - and fair play to them, I hope they do. But watch the storm if Boro win, because I think it will all start coming out then.

We need adults at all levels. SR either need to sell, or they need to bring in external investment and some new 'adults' to the table who understand how football works. The problem is, I don't even trust them to get that bit right. So, arguably, the best result is that they sell up and go entirely - but that's easier said than done. We need to stop with this 'young and will improve' mantra, because it's rubbish and flawed. Everyone needs experience. Experienced coaches, analysts, scouts, directors, players. Sure, you can have young talent in and around it - of course, but there has to be that balance. We've just gone head first into young and improve, this isn't for footballing purposes - it's for a conveyor belt of talent to fund their group. So, that needs to stop. The culture bit you've put is spot on. This 'we are better', 'the Southampton way' stuff needs to stop. We are not better. We are clearly one of the worst run clubs in the entire country. So, be realistic with the approach to slogans and and be honest with the fans on the expectations, we don't want PR and corporate fluff thrown down our throats any longer. Build a team (directors, coaches, players) from top to bottom with adults, experience and talented young people throughout. You know, just like we had under Koeman, Adkins and Pardew. It's not rocket science, and our continuous desire to reinvent football has ended up breaking us entirely.

''It's not his fault, honest. He's put money into our club. It's just those under him'' Doesn't wash anymore. Hasn't washed for a year or so to be honest. Blokes as much of a buffoon as the rest.

The argument, that I think you're on board with as well, is that our clubs media/PR machine should have been using that angle a lot more heavily in our favour than they did. We let Boro run around saying our interns name, details, pictures without any fight back or counter via our own channels. That's what I find so, so bad about all this.

Also interesting how the following day, all the North East media (sky sports news) were at that EXACT spot filming it, and doing the walk of his route. I mean...come on, it's in plain sight.

It sounds like our first response was ''What, me? No. We're good boys! Don't be silly'' ''Oh yeah, sorry - we did do that. Give us a fine?''

*Boro had already made the ruling A Statement From The Club

They're going after Hull now, as Hull say they will look to appeal if Boro win the final. I say go for it Hull, if you don't win, take Gibson to the cleaners. Give us a call and we'll give you a hand. (the fans that is, not our club)

That's how I see it, I believe they went into that hearing with the approach of 'We have already decided we are expelling you, you now have to prove to us why we shouldnt' - that's basically how I read it. And given our defence, that was that.