In praise of the Middlesbrough owner / my 2 cents
Steve Gibson has put on an absolute clinic here; I’m genuinely impressed at his ability to leverage this whole incident in to getting his side into the playoff final. The club has leveraged sensationalism and the tribal nature of online fandom to virtuoso degree.
The moment this happened he’s recognised this created an opportunity for his club to get through to the final even if they lost. They’ve been on the front foot to make sure this had maximum coverage, including getting additional details to journalists to ensure the story had legs. We’ve had escalating information (iPhone at first, Professional equipment next), multiple outlets with rehashed stories over a period of weeks, opinion pieces from client journalists about us getting kicked out and even letting Sky Sports on his golf course for an in-depth reporting piece (which just ended up being funny and hurting their case).
Letting Boro through to the final because they got cheated on is absurd. There’s no way that the advantage gained is responsible for them losing over 210 minutes of football. If we get kicked out, I will be angry because previous punishments have always been fines, docked points – removing us from competition is one thing, letting Boro back in is stupid – and Hull should be upset about having to face a team who aren't there on sporting merit.
If Boro get through to the final, a large part will be the furore created by the club themselves, it’s been impressive to watch, I wish we had an owner of his calibre, he’s one of the best in England and Boro wouldn’t be anywhere near the Premier League without him.
To be clear, I’m embarrassed by my club’s actions, I just want something proportionate as punishment.
Thank you for letting me clear my head, UTS.