Poppy

“Find out what makes you kinder, what opens you up and brings out the most loving, generous, and unafraid version of you—and go after those things as if nothing else matters. Because, actually, nothing else does.” - George Saunders. ❤️

the pope wrote a 42,000 word manifesto declaring war on AI. we are so freaking back.

They could have then dealt with us by way of a huge fine and retrospective points deduction, kicking us out of playoff contention. Then rearranged all of the games accordingly based on where that would have left the table. But they didn’t want to lose out on/spend £ doing so

The more I think about it, the more I feel the EFL is to blame for how messy this saga became, and how messy the fallout will be for months if not years. All playoff games should have been delayed until the outcome of the investigation/hearing. But they weren’t, all because of £

@boro_alex2 @TheNamesBradMFC Oh yeah I wasn’t suggesting either of you are in that %. Just giving an example of why the insane outcry including from Gibson/your club directly about our fans doing some (stupid) things that every team’s fanbase does - as evidenced by yours today - has likely fuelled the fire

@TheNamesBradMFC @PoppyGK It’s absolutely minging behaviour

Christ on earth you’d think Saints fans would have some shame wouldn’t you? I get the crack, but they got kicked out for cheating and they’d have actually battered Hull today Should be celebrating promotion and yet here they are going to Lincoln next season, same as us.

southampton and middlesbrough still having to play each other in the championship next season is the funniest outcome this whole situation could’ve had

@TheNamesBradMFC @boro_alex2 For me 2 things are true at the same time. Our club: stupid, wrong and deserved punishment. Gibson and a fair % of Boro fans: entitled and on high horses, e.g him asking EFL to charge some of our fans throwing flares at your bus as misconduct then today some of yours smash Hull’s

@boro_alex2 Mate I can’t even grasp how you’d have the energy to bother winding our fans up 🤣 I’d be livid as a Boro fan. Even more so after watching how average Hull were. They would literally be in the prem now

@_connorsss Yeah the holier than thou attitude has been driving me crazy. One of their players doing binoculars in the background of a press conference = hilarious and iconic. THB doing binoculars during a celebration = most disgusting person who ever lived

@PoppyGK They’re just football fans. Pretending any of us are better than the rest is pathetic. Happy to stick the boot in!

Unfortunately the people of Middlesbrough weren’t good enough to beat the mighty Tigers. We will never forget our heroes #McBurnie #HCAFC

@VirgilHilts01 You have completely misinterpreted the words I’ve said which is bonkers considering my initial reply to you confirmed I think what the club did was awful. Not sure why you’re now accusing me of hypocrisy - haven’t once defended the cheating OR said we shouldn’t have been expelled

That's because I can't stand cheating, in any sport not just football. If individuals or teams are allowed to get away with cheating then competitive sport might as well not exist. If Boro's and Saints' roles had been reversed you'd have been arguing exactly the same things as they have. The hypocrisy is jaw-dropping.

“Which football team lost both the semi final and final of the Championship Playoffs?” is gonna be one hell of a pub quiz question from now on, eh?

@VirgilHilts01 Your team won the Europa League this week and judging by your replies tab you’re spending an awful lot of focus on Southampton 🥴

@PoppyGK So why do you think Luton were reinstated? And why were Horsham reinstated?

@VirgilHilts01 There is no rule stating that the consequence of us being expelled was Boro needing to be reinstated. Lots of sports lawyers are talking about this and teams have queried with EFL too apparently. EFL need to clarify/amend their rules as the ambiguity added to this chaos

@PoppyGK The EFL rules state that the Play Offs are regarded as a distinct and separate competition from the League. It is a knockout tournament, so the rules for cheating in a knockout competition apply. I genuinely don't know which bit of this you don't get.

@VirgilHilts01 You’ve said “it’s the rules” and then provided me with precedents from situations that had nothing to do with breaches of actual EFL’s championship rules 🤣! Have a day off

There's decades of precedent. As recently as January this year Swindon beat Luton in the Vertu Trophy but were subsequently found to have fielded 2 ineleigible players, so Luton were reinstated and went into the next round. Barnsley in the FA Cup 23/24 did the same in their 1st round tie against Horsham. Horsham were reinstated and went through to the 2nd round. As for prep time, the Hull manager himself said "Maybe it is a bit short, but we have played them twice and we know them and they know us."

@VirgilHilts01 I didn’t think there’s a rule that sets that sequence of consequences out, but I’m happy for you to direct me to it? And Boro literally said they carried on training for Hull the day after the second semi final leg whereas Hull only found out on Tuesday this week so it wasn’t…

@PoppyGK They got reinstated because those are the rules, not simply because they asked to be and you can't possibly argue that their prep time wasn't disrupted. I mean, there's embarrassing, and then there's shameful.

@VirgilHilts01 Oh I mean I’m not denying our one is truly awful, but demanding a second chance and still being unable to convert possession into a win despite having over double Hull’s prep time is very embarrassing

@PoppyGK So is "Which is the only club ever to be expelled from the Championship play offs?" Or maybe not: everyone will know that one.

@Stuxwarren What a guy

@PoppyGK We can call it the Gastón Ramírez derby

Boro/Saints next year has to be on Netflix or something. No way that’s not just another game now.

@asmackie TIIIIIIIIIIIIGERS

@PoppyGK Amazing pop

@_connorsss First team in league history to get kicked out the playoffs twice in one month is it

MIDDLESBROUGH FOOTBALL CLUB DEAD

we both up now