Pamplemousse

Don't worry, Boro will be saving all the sob stories for November in the week before we play them. It's going to be relentless

Jason Cundy speaking a lot of sense on Talksport. Obviously skate Jamie O'Hara with him was calling him Tonda a cheat and saying he got away with it but Cundy wasn't having any of it. "Who cares... he's not a cheat"

Yup, their names are at the start of the written reasons on the FA website

I wish we were playing Boro this weekend instead of the Skates We'll just have to smash them both and wait our turn for the bottle jobs to come down

Reading though the sanction document, the FA wanted to impose a ban of three months from all footballing activity and a hefty fine. (Paragraph 108) The Indepdent Panel told the FA to fuck off basically.

Boro tears have already begun in the media

You're funny, I'll give you that

The very reasonable FA sanction just shows that the EFL decision was utterly ludicrous

Dragan Solak on the official website absolutely scathing about the EFL

https://x.com/FAspokesperson/status/2107848699694948505

I've heard due to Saints leaking it earlier, the FA have changed their mind

It could explain the holdup in announcing it. The Disciplinary Panel were quite lenient and the FA appealed because they wanted a tougher sanction.

I'd be amazed if he escaped a ban - even a touchline ban - but appreciate the information.

The thing about an appeal being in secret is possible but it seems very inconsistent. Just been having a look at the FA decisions - most of the sanctions they announce are before any possible appeal. The one recent FA case where it was only announced after appeal was where Chelsea were breaking financial regulations. So I'm not sure if that was just a special case or if there was a specific reason. Even Man City's guilty verdict was announced before an appeal. I've been thinking that the delay in the decision was due to an appeal but the more I think about it, surely it would have leaked out by now. I genuinely think the club have no idea what's going on or when there will be an announcement.

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole on the FA website. This isn't the first time Tonda has been charged with the FA - he got done for being part of a mass brawl 5 years ago https://www.thefa.com/-/media/files/thefaportal/governance-docs/discipline-cases/2021/the-fa-v-stoke-city-fc-barnsley-fc-and-others-27-september-2021.ashx "TONDA ECKERT 23. We are unanimously of the view that TE’s part in this incident was the most serious. His behaviour was aggressive and violent from the moment that he confronted DH. He slapped DH and later had his arm around someone else’s throat. Therefore, we must take a higher starting point in his case. In his favour we take account of his previous good record, genuine remorse, and admission of the charge. Therefore, our starting point is a four-match touchline suspension and a fine of £4,125. Taking account of the mitigation and admission we reduce that to a three-match touchline suspension and a fine of £2,750." Hope that previous charge doesn't count against him, but it might do

The FA have been busy this morning. They've charged Stockport because of an incident that happened in MAY...

Sorry but until MB announces it himself I won't believe anything else

If he can handle the South Coast Derby then it'll show he can go to those really tough atmospheres at Anfield or Old Trafford where it's non-stop noise

Not sure about that. All it says on the website is "Tickets for this match will be digital. An email will be sent before the match with a link to download your ticket"

Maybe he's just pulling a sickie so he can get back to Southampton sooner

Still a classic after all these years

Tickets are digital - they'll be sent by email for this game and then you have to download it to your phone

They also had quite the windfall this summer in terms of transfers - the sell on for Morgan Rogers alone was a record. So if they don't go up this year, that will cement their status as the country's number 1 bottle jobs.

Fan zones last year were absolutely rammed. I got to the ground quite late because of rail replacement buses and it was manic.