Dave

@SaintsExtra Imagine being Southampton haven’t the best squad in league , having to cheat to make the playoff final still not manage it and always having the stain on the club.

🚨🐯 Official: Middlesbrough become the first club to lose both the Championship play-off semi-final AND final. History makers.

@Scottwilsonecho We create big chances and don’t concede many big chances so this simply comes down to quality. Look at how times Coventrys keeper and strikers were the difference in their games.

🔴 ANALYSIS: #Boro won two of their last 13 in all competitions - they didn't deserve to win promotion. Attacking changes are clearly needed. But in terms of Kim Hellberg's approach to things, it also can't just be style over substance... Read here...⬇️ thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/26134760…

@boroboy151 @SkySports_Keith Stop blaming the manager. Neither team were creating anything and our keeper gifted the goal. Says it all when a club with a transfer embargo has a better striker and keeper and better options to select from the bench!!

@SkySports_Keith He was poor today. 3 players on at 96mins after going behind felt embarrassing. Should have been braver & tried to change shape & tactics but sat in waiting for extra time. You could see after 15mins 5 at the back wasn’t working. Same script as many home games in last 2-3 months.

🚨 🇸🇪 Boro boss Kim Hellberg: 🗣️ “It’s the toughest two weeks I’ve been through — two heartbreaking losses in one week. 🗣️ “You feel very, very empty. I feel very flat after everything we put into the season. 🗣️ “It’s a sad moment and I wish I could’ve done better, find better solutions. That’s what football comes down to and it’s my responsibility.” #MFC #UTB

@SkySports_Keith I feel for Hellberg. All fans knew we needed a quality keeper and forward in January and the club failed him. To then lose your best player and captain and top goal scorer at the same time ultimately cost us . So many games we needed something from the bench and it wasn’t there.

@IamBalhamMatt Stop reading your post when you said fair and square. Why don’t you spend some time reading the EFL damning publication of the Southampton case instead of wasting it spouting nonsense.

You lost 2-1 on the pitch in a match which took place fair and square, and are the sole beneficiary of Southampton’s punishment. The timing of the evidence presented was calculated to ensure Boro were reinstated rather than Hull City, and you’ve been awarded your place in the final not on sporting merit, but on the stroke of a lawyers pen. Fine, by all means try and get to the Premier League by hook or by crook, but footballers who spent their lives on the pitch are bound to dislike that. #HullCity #SaintsFC

@SaintsExtra @guardian What a load of frivolous nonsense . Probably fake news.

🚨 Millwall & Wrexham could seek to test whether the EFL rulebook has been correctly applied or whether the process was flawed, & could argue that because Southampton’s spying on Middlesbrough took place before the play-offs, they should have been replayed #saintsfc @guardian

@danielstorey85 Seems disproportionate.🤣 It’s like a life sentence for stealing a Mars bar to quote Matt Le Tossier. Unless he’s been at it all season. 🤔

Lovely irony in Southampton saying the punishment doesn't fit the crime but also reportedly about to sack the manager for his involvement in it. Surely just fine him some wages, guys. Isn't that how it works?

@DeadlineDayLive Refusal to play would be an idiotic move since it will give a 3-0 win to Middlesbrough most likely and you may not win your case.

🚨 Hull are considering taking LEGAL ACTION over the Championship promotion final. ⚠️ The club are reportedly exploring the possibility of claiming AUTOMATIC promotion to the Premier League and refusing to play Middlesbrough at Wembley after the EFL’s controversial decision. 😳 Hull are said to be furious after spending more than a week preparing for a final against Southampton before the situation dramatically changed and now they have to play Middlesbrough. 🤬 (Source: @alex_crook / @talkSPORT)

If the semi final legs were further apart it would have been dealt with then by awarding Boro a 3-0 victory by the rules in place. What’s the difference?Southampton have cheated and created all this fuss by delaying matters and generally not acting with any integrity at all.

@Ogden8887 If the semi final wasn’t played boro would have been given a bye to the final. What’s the difference? Southampton were expelled from the competition and normal rules prevailed. Not sure you are a boro fan🤔

@TheStatsSaint If you’re now saying you’ve gained an unfair advantage over the season thats far worse. I just thought you gained an unfair advantage before the biggest knockout game in football and the EFL applied the rules in place for that situation.Looks like you go off lightly

To clarify for all the abusive comments I'm getting, I agree with you that we got an unfair advantage across the season so deserved to be expelled. You currently have an unfair advantage on Hull, and lost the semi - they should go up automatically.

@JacobsBen If anybody thinks Hull have not prepared for playing Southampton or Boro you’re stupid. The only reason they are creating this narrative is to provide leverage to sue if they’re not promoted. All the EFL did was applied the rules in place for cheating in knockout football.

🚨 Exclusive: Hull City are consulting lawyers to see if they have a case to be promoted straight to the Premier League after Southampton (subject to an appeal) were expelled from the Championship playoffs. Hull are unhappy at the prospect of facing Middlesbrough at Wembley having spent over a week preparing to play Southampton. Saints appeal is this evening and they will argue the punishment is too harsh. Hull's players had a pre-planned day off today and will return tomorrow with either two days to prepare for Boro, or potentially learn the final is against Southampton again. Hull are leaving legal avenues open, including the prospect of a challenge after the final.🐯 🤝 @alex_crook

@georgechetz It’s Southampton that broke the rules and the EFL that brought the charges you melt

EFL pandering to Gibson has made this so messy ffs

Expelling Southampton was the only decision that would act as a deterrent and the most likely decision from the EFL. The playoffs are considered a separate competition to the league and when a sporting sanction was the only feasible penalty (when £200m is the prize no fine would do) - the only option was to remove them - there are no points in the playoffs. Football is defined by the finest of margins and any edge can be the difference. When #LUFC spied on Derby they broke no specific law. EFL Regulation 127 (the anti-espionage rule) was brought in after Spygate 1.0. In addition to knowingly breaking that regulation, I presume aggravating factors would have included: the change of clothes by the spy; the Harwood-Bellis binocular celebration; the delay in admission by Southampton and other clubs having strong suspicions that they were also spied on. Spying by its nature cannot be committed in good faith. The fairness and integrity of the competition would have been at the forefront of the determination. It’s cruel on Southampton’s fans especially those who travel every week and would have already made plans for the final. But it was also cruel on Middlesbrough - who did nothing wrong, who broke no rules - and their fans. Boro are absolutely right in their assertion that the information gleaned by the spy could very well have made the difference in such tight games. Whatever the decision, I assumed that either club would take further action - I wouldn’t be surprised if the outcome of Spygate 2.0 led Southampton to look at their legal options - the stakes are that high. But for me the right and fair decision was made - the precedent had been set when Swindon were expelled from the EFL Trophy. The integrity of the competition is paramount and first and foremost, it has to be fair. Southampton spied and got booted out, it’s sensational, it’s (almost completely) unprecedented - but it’s absolutely the correct outcome.

@lewisswift Lost to the cheating club . Interesting logic 🤔

Let’s also be honest, we’ve accepted the 3 spying charges, but I highly doubt it was just 3! Why would you only do it 3 times when you might as well have done it for every game. Anyways, Hull should be given automatic promotion, Middlesbrough have lost,and shouldn’t be in a final

Anyone with any knowledge of English football history will know that it is ridiculous for Southampton’s chief executive, Phil Parsons, to claim that their expulsion from the Championship play-offs is a bigger punishment than the 30-point deduction imposed on Luton Town in 2008 which led to relegation and almost throttled the life out of the club. Absolutely no comparison and completely weakens Southampton’s attempted argument that being thrown out of the play-offs is “manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game”. There is some good stuff in Parsons’ statement: accepting culpability for Spygate, apologising to those clubs they spied on and apologising to their fans “whose extraordinary loyalty and support this season deserved better from the club”. Well said. But… the rules changed since Leeds United’s “similar offence” in 2019, there is no right to the £200m (it’s not a fine), and to play the whataboutery game and make the comparison with the Hatters is, fittingly, mad. Southampton’s reputation is certainly damaged but at least their very existence is not at risk. #SaintsFC #LTFC

@paulharper75 Or an alternative view . Southampton expelled from the playoff semi final granting boro a 3-0 win as per the rules and a final place. That’s what should have happened but despicable Southampton asked for more time and hoped to get off lightly.

This is what should've happened; - Southampton expelled - 'boro not reinstated - City handed promotion to the PL - The cost to the EFL for not having their showcase final covered by Southampton's parachute payments Goodnight #hcafc #efl

A lot of misinformed people still batting for Southampton or at least against Boro. I’ll try to make it very simple: A member of the S’ton coaching staff broke EFL regulation 127 with full knowledge and support of the head coach. Breach of the regulation requires a sporting sanction. The sporting sanctions available are expulsion (precedent below) or a 3-0 for the game impacted. Both result in Southampton leaving the competition. bbc.com/sport/football…

@SkySports_Keith The reason they cheated was because of the potential reward of £200m so the punishment is proportionate. You cannot draw comparisons to other cases , as football has different levels of risk and reward but the @EFL rules must be consistent for all.

🚨 Southampton CEO, Phil Parsons on being kicked out of the play-off final: 🗣️ “What happened was wrong. We are sorry to the other clubs involved, and most of all to the Southampton supporters whose extraordinary loyalty and support this season deserved better from the club. 🗣️ “We have provided our full co-operation to the EFL's investigation and disciplinary process. Following the appeal, we will also be writing to the EFL to volunteer our participation in a working group on the practical application and enforcement of Regulation 127 across the Championship. Contrition without change is hollow, and we intend to demonstrate change. 🗣️ “On the appeal itself: we accept that there should be a sanction. What we cannot accept is a sanction which bears no proportion to the offence. Whereas Leeds United was fined £200,000 for a similar offence, Southampton has been denied the opportunity to compete in a game worth more than £200 million and one which means so much to our staff, players and supporters. 🗣️ “The financial consequence of yesterday's ruling makes it, by a very considerable distance, the largest penalty ever imposed on an English football club. We say this not to minimise what occurred at this club, which we have accepted was wrong. We say it because proportionality is itself a principle of natural justice. 🗣️ “The Commission was entitled to impose a sanction. It was not, we will argue, entitled to impose one that is manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game.”

@DanSFC94 Don’t tell me they also spied on Wrexham as well? Or did Hull spy on Millwall I’m confused. It’s a knockout competition you numpty so it only affects the people In the tie. Expulsion correct for that, points deduction correct for the other league offences.

Taking #SaintsFC out of the equation for a minute… The EFL have created an almighty mess. Their decision will leave Hull, Millwall, Wrexham etc asking a LOT of questions. This is going to rumble on for a long time.