Lord Duckhunter

I thought I was head over heart on this, wanting Middlesbrough to win as I think they’ll be better than Hull next season. However that soon changed when I heard the actual result, was actually more pleased than I thought I’d be. We’ve gone away for a few days & I was drinking with some northerners last night, mainly Liverpudlians of both persuasion and a random Blackpool supporter. Every one of them was pleased it was Hull, but what surprised me was how little they knew about it, apart from one Evertonian the rest really hadn’t paid any attention to the whole thing. The bloke who had paid attention was a bit of an anorak, he seemed to know every Saints Everton game going back to the 70’s. Anyway he made a point I thought was worth sharing. Whilst the Premier League don’t have a spying rule, they do have the “utmost good faith” catch all rule. He said if we’d been doing it in the Preimer League, they would have had us on this. As he pointed out, just because there isn’t a specific rule, doesn’t mean clubs can fly drones or any other sneaky ways to watch training. He made the point that this rule gives both sides a bit of wiggle room around punishment which the EFL one doesn’t. You have either broke the rule or you haven’t , there’s no grey area the “good faith” rule gives you

I think we need to make a big statement similar to when we took Pardew in league 1. He wasn’t one of my favourite blokes, but he was a Premier league manger. It made a statement and I’m sure it made players mind up if they doubted we were determined to get back up. Maybe Dyche isn’t ideal, but he’s got contacts with agents and other managers (important in the loan market), he’s got a reputation in the game and would send out a statement we’re not mincing about with hipsters. He won’t be affected by any outside pony and will buy right into the “let’s show the bastards”. This time round the job is for a man, not a fucking laptop merchant. This is going to be a tough league next season, with West Ham or Spurs, Sheffield Utd & Norwich won’t be as pony as they were this year, Middlesbrough (if they lose today) will be tough, Wolves & Burnley aremt going to do a Leicester. We can’t spend 5 or 6 games with a manager coming to terms with the league.

Good point 👍

That’s a shame, SAF was my choice to replace Tonda

I wouldn’t, she’s a 2 Pinter, so I show some respect

I’m meeting family in France next week & there will be a coach from a league one club there (we’re related through marriage). I’ll ask him, but never get much out of him, and I pretty much stopped asking after he told me I was “too harsh” on Baz after his first premier league spell.

If you take the emotion out of it, Hull will be an easier game next season. It’s a freak they’ve made the play offs, they won’t be anywhere near the top 6 next season. For the same reason I don’t want Spurs relegated, although West Ham will be tough, there’s no chance Spurs won’t take one of the top 2 next season. It’s going to be hard enough to get promoted starting behind everyone else, so we need the weakest league possible

What happens if we lose the first 5

The problem was they didn’t get ahead of this early enough, they were always playing catch up & because of that made a series of poor decisions. Life is full of fuck ups, and a rule of thumb is get it out there, because it’ll all come out in the end. Different industry/importance but only last year I sailed close to the wind with our compliance team at work, my boss said “tell me everything, and I’ll try and protect you”, (fair enough, she did). That’s what should have happened here, the day it broke Parsons should have had it all laid out to him, everything. It seems to me that he didn’t realise the extent of it when he spoke to “Gibbo” & we first indicated to the press it was a “lone wolf”. It seems to me that the facts had to be dragged out of us, bit by bit. It’s understandable that supporters didn’t comprehend the seriousness of it, but that’s Parsons job & he should have known every single detail from day one. If we knew that, our legal response may of been different. Could we have dragged it out, could we have agreed a speedy timetable which COULD have led to a 3-0 default defeat in the first leg. It’s very easy to criticise the legal team, but were we upfront with them from the off, or was their defence based on limited knowledge of the full facts. If it was my club, I’d want a full and through deep dive into this. Not the spying itself, that can be separate, but on the general response. Unbelievably, we’ve managed to look shady, unscrupulous and useless at the same time. And for what, the worse scenario.

Before you get into the morals, the practicalities mean it’s inconceivable he’s not sacked. He’ll face a ban, then what do we do, put Lallana in charge until he’s back? We’re starting 4 points behind everyone else, we need to hit the ground running. Im a big right man/right time type of Bloke. Claudio Ranerai right man at Leicester for that exact moment. Tonda did a great job getting very good under performing players playing to their potential, and he was tactically excellent. That’s not going to be the job this time. This is going to need a backs to the wall, those bastards are all against us, Manager who can get average players playing well. A manager who has seen it all and will not be put off by anything. Is that Tonda? Who knows. But this isn’t going to be the same club he took over from Still. You also can’t tell me there won’t be some resentment around the club if he stays, not just players, but support staff and supporters. If he loses early, things are going to get very tasty very early. So from a practical point, it’s a No. From a “is he the right fit”, it’s a maybe, and from the moral point of view, I think he’ll be damn lucky to keep his job.

Err, no

We didn’t spy on Ipswich at their training ground. Begs the question, did we spy on anyone else when they used a facility for a game at St Mary’s. Is it Ipswich fault Eastleigh are “stupid enough” to not build wall, just in case a team higher up the pyramid want to cheat.

Ahh yes, the reply the second game behind closed doors option, yeah, realistically good option that one. 😂😂

Pages and pages of pony, and nobody can. Once the first leg was played, it was all or nothing. Playing the first leg had fuck all to do with The panel, the bloke who played 1 game for Boro or “Gibbo”, and it was what 100% of people on here wanted.

Course we did…..

If you’re caught with the plank of wood, it’s your own fucking fault nobody else…

Get over it you fanny

Im not convinced none of them knew, like all of us & 99% of the media,they didn’t quite realise how serious it would be taken. If it was kept from the players, it blows “we didn’t know it was illegal “ defence out the water, if you thought it was legal you’d say “we had Oxford watched yesterday” & they’ll playing X formation today”. I know some are a bit dopey, but surely some senior pros who have played for a dozen managers and 5 or 6 clubs would suspect something. I’m praying Baz was in on it, and faces a lengthy ban.

I wonder if this would have happened if Trollope was still the Asst, or even Les Read as DoF. Seems to me that this inexperienced talented bloke, had the run of the place as was able to run roughshod over established practices. As long as I can remember young inexperienced managers have had experienced mentors to lean on, even in an unofficial capacity. I’ve been reading about Ferguson’s Aberdeen days & he’d frequently discuss things with Jock Stein who took him under his wing. Lawrie obviously had Ted around the place. They don’t seem to now, and that’s a massive gap in mangers locker. They all think they know it all. Without opening a new can of worms, what about the senior players. Did they not at least suspect something with the information he was bringing to the table. Different era I know, but I’m sure a player of two would have had a quiet word with Lawrie had they thought he was crossing a line. And that line would cost them and the club a massive amount. It seems it was so widespread that somebody somewhere should have known, and ultimately somebody should pay for that regardless of whether they knew or not.

Wow, why didn’t Lord Panic think of this. Shame we didn’t employ you instead, we’d defo be heading to Wembley tomorrow 🤣🤣🤡

Dear God, Just because there’s no designated punishment doesn’t mean there can’t be one.

Can you explain it to Metal Mickey

There’s no points in a knock out competition. God, you’re dopey. We cheated in 2 competitions, the one based on points, we got a points deduction. Once the play offs were deemed a separate competition, we couldn’t have points deduction 🤡

I do feel a bit sorry for the bloke, you have to remember he’s a young man himself given a massive opportunity very early in his career. I’ve no doubt he knew it was illegal in England, but I imagine he thought the consequences would be worth the risk, and won’t have dreamed it would blow up in his face. He was clearly good for this group of players & if it was him who decided to ditch Baz & AA, get some strong personalities through the door, then that’s a massive tick. However, the job someone faces this summer isn’t the same job, and I’m not sure asking the arsonist in to clear up the fire can really work. It will be a new group of players, with new leadership needed & a kind drawn under the whole sorry affair. Personally I don’t thin it will help anyone if there’s a media circus for the first month of the season, every press conference, every after match interview, he’ll be asked or called a cheat. Every away game, bile will pour down at him & his players. His position is untenable, it’s as simple as that.

There was absolutely zero chance the EFL would promote Hull and give up their most important game, anymore than the FA would give up the FA final or FIFA the World Cup final if semi final winner had cheated. No chance whatsoever, it wasn’t a Middlesbrough thing. Had Hull been the ones cheating, we’d be facing Millwall tomorrow