Lighthouse

Between Tonda being appointed and the end of the season we played every team in the league, many of them twice. I could believe that it was just Ipswich and Boro, they were two vital games against very good teams. What I can't believe is that we sent someone to spy on relegation fighting Oxford United, then didn't deem it necessary to spy on anyone else for the next five months.

Well, if you showed me the two power play scores and asked me who was going to win, I’d have lost money. After their openers fell they had nothing. If we hadn’t dropped their tenth wicket partnership a couple of times, they could’ve been done for even less.

Not rained for a couple of hours now, with a fair bit of direct sunshine to help dry the pitch and not much of anything heading this way on the radar. Hopefully we get our full 40 overs in and don’t end up getting screwed by DLS in some way.

Which begs the question; why do it?

I can say that I’ve never willingly and repeatedly broken the laws of my industry and potentially cost the company I work for £200m. Nor have I harassed, borderline bullied, junior members of staff into being complicit, so I don’t think the, “hey, we all make mistakes,” line is really going to fly on this one. Nevertheless, we’ve clearly made a decision and nailed our colours to the mast, so if this is the direction we’re going then so be it. Hopefully the players are all fully behind him and not being able to spy on other teams training doesn’t detract too much from his management ability.

I fully agree. If this panel was being put together in 1994, I certainly wouldn't have him on it. There are three possible scenarios here: Absolutely nobody involved in the enquiry was aware of information which is readily available on wikipedia. People did know about it but decided to keep him on anyway because everyone secretly hates Saints. People did know about it but decided it was inconsequential and wouldn't affect his judgement. Out of those three options I know which is by far the most plausible option. Perhaps some of you would sleep better if we'd been kicked out the playoffs by a different guy who hadn't played one game on loan 32 years ago. Personally, I couldn't give a hoot.

Somehow I doubt that information was shrouded in secrecy, it's literally on his wikipedia page. The simple fact is that it's irrelevant. I would have made it known, as it was with Winnie, and I highly doubt anyone would care.

So you have information to suggest that David Winnie is still employed by Middlesbrough FC?

In the unlikely event that THB did stay this summer, presumably you think he should be dropped from the squad for our games against Stoke and Burnley next season?

It’s a shame Tuesdays forecast is guaranteed rain, as Sussex really are nothing to write home about.

It didn’t really cost us anything but f**k me, that ‘run out’ was one of the worst bits of umpiring I’ve ever seen. The batter might as well have been at the ice cream van he was that far out.

The final is going to be USA vs Middlesbrough.

The big clubs especially will have teams of analysts studying penalty data in enormous detail. Quite simply, players wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work.

Players wouldn't do it if there wasn’t a decent rate of success. They do it to get the keeper to move first, so that they can put it the other way. Missing from a stuttering run up is no worse than running up and wellying it into the car park.

Slot is sacked. Seems a bit harsh after finishing first and fifth, with all the Salah BS and everything else he's had to deal with.