Sergei Gotsmanov

Go easy on Colonel Sanders.

I suppose that they can do this through the courts.

I think that it is very different in the fact that the game had been played but in our case the EFL should have suspended the second leg if not the first leg if they wanted to sling us out.

No but I don't blame him for going out to bat for his club and indeed all that he has done for Middlesbrough.

I think MLG makes a good point below in terms of suspensions. I still feel that so much is at stake that Boro have to feel some form of content with the ruling....

Yes I get that but do you not think that Boro who potentially have been cheated of place in the final have to feel they have something out of any ruling?

I think they have been very successful and changed the narrative from being a bit of a joke to one where it is would not be unreasonable to throw us out. Take the smug Henry Winter who, when Bielsa was caught in 2019 and subsequently admitted that he spied regularly, seemed to imply that it was effectively part of the game. Yet when we did it, feigned outrage and seemed to indicate that we should be slung out.

Boro are the complainants. They are involved. That is why they have recruited everyone they can in the media to pretend that expelling us from the final is a fair and legitimate option. They have done a very good job at this because what started as a grossly inflated punishment is now seen as a real possibility....

Surely the Independent Disciplinary Commission can only achieve resolution if the wronged party has some form of recompense and the party in the wrong is punished.

The EFL will feel accountable to the Boro fans.

I think it does. If you have a wronged party surely the EFL have to be seen to ensure we are punished and they have some kind of recompense. Hopefully we will have an announcement from the EFL saying "the panel have considered the case and although they have concluded that there was very little advantage from the breach of rules Southampton will pay Middlesbrough football club a sum of....and the final goes ahead on Saturday....

Boro were supposedly disadvantaged. They have to get something out of this....

That's kind Trousers.

That is very interesting because that gives the EFL a get out. The EFL have to be seen to punishing us whilst ensured the wronged party, Boro receive some recompense. If we do not compensate them then that means us being expelled. The problem for the EFL is that they allowed not just the first leg but also the second leg to be played when the spying had already been exposed. Why suspend the final because of a possible decision to expel us and not suspend at the very least the second leg? This is not in the 'spirit' of how supporters should be treated.

Betfair odds last time I asked have Boro odds drifting to 8.5 to 1 from 13/2 to get promoted.....

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Sammy Saint?

Should the games have gone ahead if there was a realistic chance that Southampton could have been thrown out. The incident happened before a ball had been kicked. As a supporter I would not have attended the second leg if I knew we would be thrown out. This again goes back to the lunacy of having a rule with no punishment attached to it.

Thanks BobSmith I don't just post what I want to believe. I post hoping that somebody might respond with something that puts my fears at rest.

I think what the club should be arguing is that Boro and Steve Gibson are not acting in the spirit of the game by manipulating the media to influence the narrative. Henry Winter has totally changed his opinion on how serious spying is since the Leeds affair in 2019. This looks suspiciously like Middlesbrough intervention. Perhaps the offering of a few future scoops....

They don't need to prove it we have been caught.

He is representing the club and filming the training session.

God I hope you are right. They have teed it up so that they can throw us out...maybe they had to be seen to do this.

Maybe they should have instantly suspended him and banned him from the club but even then it is unlikely the panel will believe that he did not pass on some information.

We don't know what he was looking for and what information he reported back.