Robbo on our 3pts article today

Contentious opinion but if we did stay up and brought in all the players that were rumoured, might we not have spent above our means and gone down the same route as Leeds?
 
Ok not this again playing Blackburn made no difference as it was the points we already had won that were taken off us.

As losing Blackburn didn’t equal losing three points so the score at the Blackburn game was irrelevant.
We effectively had one game taken off is a game that we the fans had paid this was erased from the record books, this though is never mentioned

so in effect we were punished twice.
How was the Blackburn game irrelevant when if we had won the replayed game we would have stayed up on goal difference ?
 
Whichever way you look at it & whoever you care to blame the bottom line is, IMHO, the Boro are to blame full stop

We had enough players to field a starting 11, calling ourselves a PL team we were so unprofessional in that whole sorry mess, regardless of what the modern, pampered PL team are using the pandemic to call of games we were our own victims back then & rightly punished, not saying it was right to dock us 3 points but the PL had to do something
 
Whichever way you look at it & whoever you care to blame the bottom line is, IMHO, the Boro are to blame full stop

We had enough players to field a starting 11, calling ourselves a PL team we were so unprofessional in that whole sorry mess, regardless of what the modern, pampered PL team are using the pandemic to call of games we were our own victims back then & rightly punished, not saying it was right to dock us 3 points but the PL had to do something
Dont let Zorro see you talk like that. :unsure:
 
Whichever way you look at it & whoever you care to blame the bottom line is, IMHO, the Boro are to blame full stop

We had enough players to field a starting 11, calling ourselves a PL team we were so unprofessional in that whole sorry mess, regardless of what the modern, pampered PL team are using the pandemic to call of games we were our own victims back then & rightly punished, not saying it was right to dock us 3 points but the PL had to do something
Problem is Erimus, we initially contacted the PL for advice and their availability and response was terrible.
The mystery man who gave the advice over the phone, in the absence of anyone else being there, was never heard from again. Probably a West Ham supporting cleaner.
If we had been told at that point "If you don't fulfil the fixture you will be docked 3 points" I'm sure we would have turned up.
The fact is we weren't told that and there wasn't even a relevant rule in place for referral.
The PL made it up as they went along from that point.
To then have it confirmed that 'we acted in good faith' makes the decision even more unpalatable.
 
Problem is Erimus, we initially contacted the PL for advice and their availability and response was terrible.
The mystery man who gave the advice over the phone, in the absence of anyone else being there, was never heard from again. Probably a West Ham supporting cleaner.
If we had been told at that point "If you don't fulfil the fixture you will be docked 3 points" I'm sure we would have turned up.
The fact is we weren't told that and there wasn't even a relevant rule in place for referral.
The PL made it up as they went along from that point.
To then have it confirmed that 'we acted in good faith' makes the decision even more unpalatable.
You make sure you get cast iron guarantees on things like this, both us and the PL were amateurish with arrangements. PL made it up as they went along right through to deducting three points at the behest of our relegation rivals.

I think we would have had a decent case if we had taken it all the way, not sure if the court of sporting arbitration existed then, but am sure Gibson was told that the FA would make life very difficult for us if we pushed further with appeals etc..?

Have always thought we were at fault, but the punishment was unduly harsh given precedent and following cases/. For example West Ham with Tevez/Mascherano and Spurs postponing their first home game over delayed ground improvements a few seasons before. However, clubs like Middlesbrough and Swindon Town (relegated for similar to West Ham) don't have the same clout in the footballing world
 
Contentious opinion but if we did stay up and brought in all the players that were rumoured, might we not have spent above our means and gone down the same route as Leeds?
Hahah I've fretted over this for years and even went through countless models and predicted outcomes based on players we've brought in vs players we could have brought in. The sad fact is.. we broke the mould and we didn't take our chance when we had it - I'm talking about all of the cups here. Newcastle came very close to the league under Keegan but ultimately failed at the last hurdle. Overall as a club we overachieve, we are more successful than clubs with budgets much bigger than our own.. this doesn't just mean the two cup finals that we were in around that period, but also the European cup final appearance and league cup win. Not only are we much more successful but we are good at managing our failings and navigating our way out of trouble. Take a look at Leeds after their foray into Europe, take a look at Bolton after their cup final appearance, Portsmouth after their cup win, Sunderland after getting a new stadium. For all of their bluster and talking up their club.. what have Newcastle actually done? They signed Alan Shearer, they signed Michael Owen.. they're the richest club in the world.. but they've won nowt. How many cup finals in recent years? How many European Cup Finals? WE ARE SPORTING GLORY!!

The summer of 2008 was a huge sliding doors moment for us, much more that the 3 points debacle. Poor decisions were made that cost us massively and are still felt to this day. Never mind Romario, Roberto Carlos et al What about Huth & Matic and all the other premier league winners we let slip through our fingers.
 
Hahah I've fretted over this for years and even went through countless models and predicted outcomes based on players we've brought in vs players we could have brought in. The sad fact is.. we broke the mould and we didn't take our chance when we had it - I'm talking about all of the cups here. Newcastle came very close to the league under Keegan but ultimately failed at the last hurdle. Overall as a club we overachieve, we are more successful than clubs with budgets much bigger than our own.. this doesn't just mean the two cup finals that we were in around that period, but also the European cup final appearance and league cup win. Not only are we much more successful but we are good at managing our failings and navigating our way out of trouble. Take a look at Leeds after their foray into Europe, take a look at Bolton after their cup final appearance, Portsmouth after their cup win, Sunderland after getting a new stadium. For all of their bluster and talking up their club.. what have Newcastle actually done? They signed Alan Shearer, they signed Michael Owen.. they're the richest club in the world.. but they've won nowt. How many cup finals in recent years? How many European Cup Finals? WE ARE SPORTING GLORY!!

The summer of 2008 was a huge sliding doors moment for us, much more that the 3 points debacle. Poor decisions were made that cost us massively and are still felt to this day. Never mind Romario, Roberto Carlos et al What about Huth & Matic and all the other premier league winners we let slip through our fingers.
Our direct comparator is Blackburn imho, if you look at what they achieved and what we achieved they won the PL and a couple of League Cups, we came close to FA Cup and had more success in Europe, but we always under achieved in the League. Maybe we were a couple of years too late to the party to compete for a League title? Blackburn were competing directly with Man Utd, by the time we were in a position there were at least half a dozen sides better placed to compete with Man Utd.
 
As much as I love the Boro and was a season ticket holder back then as I am now, I have no sympathy for the club for losing the 3 points and being relegated.

Late afternoon on the Tuesday before the game was cancelled I was on a works Christmas binge and happened to (literally) stumble upon the whole Boro squad.... in fancy dress..... in the Dickens Inn. They were all there with the exception of the management team and Ravanelli. I have the autographs on a Dickens Inn menu in my loft to prove it. They were there for quite some time and in very high spirits, with the exception of Emmerson, who just sat in the corner...on his phone, chain smoking. I was shocked when it was announced on the Friday that the squad was riddled with a flu bug and would be unable to put a team out.

Looking back ..... it was a game we didn't want to play after just getting stuffed 5-1 by Liverpool in the previous match and with injuries to a couple of key players. Surprisingly, we managed to get our full team out just 5 days later on the boxing day when we stuffed Everton 4-2 !
 
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