| The EFL 08:49 - May 20 with 2528 views | MattFinish |
Regardless of what Southampton have done wrong some very serious questions have to be asked about the EFL's handling of this.
I think the sanctions handed out to us yesterday are hugely and disproportionately more severe than the sanctions dished out to clubs like Leicester City for prolonged and serious financial cheating.
The only precedent relating to our situation is the Leeds United incident in 2019 when Leeds spied on Derby but admitted to spying before every other game. The EFL decided that the punishment for this should be a £200,000 fine. OK it's slightly different because there was no rule in place at the time but the small fine and no points deduction was set by the EFL seven years ago and that is the only benchmark that can be applied.
The question that has to be asked about the EFL is why did they then create a rule that fully allows football clubs to legally spy on training sessions up to 72 hours before a game? Why not just ban spying altogether? Also, why didn't they have a punishment already specified in the rules? This would have enabled them to take action immediately rather than this ridiculous situation we have now.
Because of this situation there are 2 clubs who still don’t know whether or not they are going to be in the playoff final and Hull City who've been training to face Southampton and are now likely to face Middlesbrough. In addition the EFL have released tickets to Southampton fans, who have organised parking, transport, hotels etc that now have to be cancelled. Middlesbrough fans have now got to try and organise parking, transport, hotels and have somehow got to receive tickets that will probably not be confirmed until Thursday following the outcome of Saints appeal. In fact it's so ridiculous from the EFL that only yesterday they released additional tickets to Southampton only hours before the decision. This should have been completely avoidable.
I also think some questions have to be asked about the EFL representative board who decided upon the punishment.
The usual EFL disciplinary panel consists of three people one of whom is Neil Bausor.
If you look at EFL.com and look at their board members and scroll down you will come to:
“Neil Bausor has been with Championship side Middlesbrough since 2007, when he first joined the Club as Chief Operating Officer. He later received a permanent promotion to Chief Executive after taking on the role on an interim basis for nine months.
Bausor was appointed on to the EFL Board in July 2021 alongside Preston’s Peter Ridsdale ahead of the 2021/22 campaign when a number of vacancies arose for representatives.”
It was also reported that “to avoid any conflict of interest, Neil Bausor, Middlesbrough’s chief executive, will step back from the three-person EFL representative board for Championship clubs for matters relating to the (Spygate) case”.
However, the three members of the representative board that made this extremely harsh decision are clearly all colleagues of Bausor at the EFL. Surely this raises a question about impartiality. |  | | |  |
| The EFL on 09:04 - May 20 with 2426 views | Capt_Koons |
I agree with all this. As amateur as our management has been the EFL have a lot to explain. |  |
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| The EFL on 09:27 - May 20 with 2310 views | DorsetIan |
The penalty makes no sense tbh even if it is not too severe.
Kicking us out of the play offs penalises us this season. Why then penalise us next season too with yhe -4 points? That doesn’t seem right.
Also, if we’re out of the play offs, logically Wrexham have to cone back in.
There should be a Boro v Wrexham semi before the final.
Boro may been spied upon but theyve got no more right to benefit from that than Wrexham.
And all that would be a admin nightmare, but so be it. If EFL are concerned about cheating and fairness then they need the courage of their convictions. |  |
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| The EFL on 09:50 - May 20 with 2239 views | UlsterBaz |
As embarrassing as the whole sorry saga is, the punishment is clearly disproportionate. We are being made an example of. The league has a history of this sort of thing, Luton Town’s massive points deduction being the obvious one. |  | | |
| The EFL on 10:03 - May 20 with 2202 views | DorsetIan |
Some noises coming out of Wrexham now...
https://www.express.co.uk/spor
If we are expelled from the play offs surely 7th has to come back in.
I can't see how that's not the case. No, Wrexham didn't make it to the play offs, but neither did Boro make it to the final. | |
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| The EFL on 10:32 - May 20 with 2082 views | arfurdent |
The EFL have set an interesting legal precedent especially if this goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Any team caught spying, using an unlicensed player or any other similar offense will have to face a similar level of retribution |  |
| So Long and Thanks for all the Fish |
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| The EFL on 11:33 - May 20 with 1977 views | HytheFerrytales |
| The EFL on 10:32 - May 20 by arfurdent |
The EFL have set an interesting legal precedent especially if this goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Any team caught spying, using an unlicensed player or any other similar offense will have to face a similar level of retribution |
The EFL has taken the path of least resistance on this issue.
It's much easier to dump a lorry load of shit on the Club that has already admitted guilt.
Leaving us in the playoffs would have left the EFL dealing with the tsunami of legal crappola that would come their way from the Gibbmeister sitting on his moral high ground. Then will come the "Me Too's" on the bandwagon.
Their haste to beat Saturday's deadline may eventually come back to haunt the EFL because they have widened the spectrum of possible sanctions so much that the next CB that is accused, and found guilty of, having halitosis is going down for life with no parole.
Would have been better to give the issue much more time to get a decision closer to basic common sense. |  | | |
| The EFL on 12:13 - May 20 with 1929 views | GRIM |
| The EFL on 09:27 - May 20 by DorsetIan |
The penalty makes no sense tbh even if it is not too severe.
Kicking us out of the play offs penalises us this season. Why then penalise us next season too with yhe -4 points? That doesn’t seem right.
Also, if we’re out of the play offs, logically Wrexham have to cone back in.
There should be a Boro v Wrexham semi before the final.
Boro may been spied upon but theyve got no more right to benefit from that than Wrexham.
And all that would be a admin nightmare, but so be it. If EFL are concerned about cheating and fairness then they need the courage of their convictions. |
I agree 100% with these comments.
If we're kicked out then Wrexham should come back in & play Boro to decide who plays Hull in final.
It's totally wrong for Boro to get a free pass into the Final.
But we all know that the EFL are afraid of reprisals from Steve Gibson.
He & the media have influenced the outcome of this ridiculous scandal.
Alright we should never have got ourselves into this drama but it should be dealt with fairly. | | | |
| The EFL on 12:49 - May 20 with 1870 views | MattFinish |
The fact that the CEO of Middlesbrough is on the EFL board must have something to do with it
I imagine Saints will be pushing this point in their appeal | | | |
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| The EFL on 13:38 - May 20 with 1796 views | yateleysaint |
Saints have royally messed up for sure but the EFL is a total shambles.
Why write a rule and not detail the punishment?
It was probably to cover their arses but it has blown up in their faces!
#mixedmetaphors
They’re just making it up as they go along, the absolute clowns. |  |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
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| The EFL on 14:46 - May 20 with 1712 views | BuenosSaint |
| The EFL on 13:38 - May 20 by yateleysaint |
Saints have royally messed up for sure but the EFL is a total shambles.
Why write a rule and not detail the punishment?
It was probably to cover their arses but it has blown up in their faces!
#mixedmetaphors
They’re just making it up as they go along, the absolute clowns. |
I'd love it if all EFL clubs review their training ground footage and try and spot "spies" within 72 hours of a game.
if said clubs can id the spy and report it to the EFL, then the EFL would be up a certain creek without a paddle. | |
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