Are you more frustrated by the 3 match ban than the impact on Saturday's game?

[Turkey]

A lot of Boro fans seem to be getting in a right tizz over our 'bitterness'. They seem very defensive as if it's a personal affront to them. I haven't got any issue with Boro at all, good luck to them.

I'm far more wound up by the 3 match ban, ruling Dale out of the play-offs than I am in terms of the impact on last Saturday's game.

Perhaps I've misjudged the mood and perhaps I'm an idiot (well that's a given tbf) but whilst we might have gone on to win the game with Stephens on the pitch, it would still have been a tough ask.

 

[Seagull58]

I'm more frustrated about the impact on Saturday's game. We were well in the game, we had momentum with us and our best player on the day had scored the equalising goal. Then we were shafted and Boro were pretty much off the hook. At least we go into the play-offs with 11 men on the pitch and with time to prepare the team, although, obviously, Stephens is a big miss.

 

[Albumen]

Blaming Ramirez is a little crass
Blaming Boro is tinpot
I was pissed off at the Boro bench for trying to keep the ball near FT.
But I have no gripe with Boro.
The ref spoilt the game and party, who knows what thriller we could have had, either way.
And the panel haven't thought about the player, why they play, what they play for - the chance to get to the final and enjoy the Wembley pitch. Just to save face.

DEFINITELY time to man up and move on now though.

 

[sparkie]

Nothing to do with Boro fans as such. Nothing to do with Middlesbrough other than the tosser who plays in midfield.

Riverside Mike is the real problem in this.

 

[Icy Gull]

Couldn't care less about Boro or even the final result. I am just so angry that Mike Dean cheated us of the opportunity to possibly win the game, which disappeared once we went down to 10

The FA rank closing is almost as sick making

Losing Stephens for 3 games is so unfair on the player himself too

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Nothing to do with Boro fans as such. Nothing to do with Middlesbrough other than the tosser who plays in midfield.

Riverside Mike is the real problem in this.

Other than their fans have shown a complete lack of class since. Look at some of their supporters on here and a number on Twitter. Quite why it even bothers them now is beyond me but they're comments since the game make me really hope they get relegated next season.

 

[pasty]

Most pissed off at the impact on Saturdays match. If he hadn't had been sent off, we "might" not be in the play-offs at all, let alone without an influential midfielder.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

A lot of Boro fans seem to be getting in a right tizz over our 'bitterness'. They seem very defensive as if it's a personal affront to them. I haven't got any issue with Boro at all, good luck to them.

I'm far more wound up by the 3 match ban, ruling Dale out of the play-offs than I am in terms of the impact on last Saturday's game.

Perhaps I've misjudged the mood and perhaps I'm an idiot (well that's a given tbf) but whilst we might have gone on to win the game with Stephens on the pitch, it would still have been a tough ask.

I get your point. I'm pretty annoyed about both to be honest. On the one hand, we'd just equalised and got back into the game, although we can't know what would have happened if Dean had made the right decision. On the other hand, a combination of Mike Dean and the FA have looked at the replay, which is makes it so clear it is not a foul, and decided to protect themselves rather than support justice. It makes you wonder what the point of the appeals process is, along with Murphy's sending off. And now we lose one of our best players for the whole of the play offs. No justice in football.

 

[GT49er]

Couldn't care less what 'Boro fans think. They can think what they like. We know that Dean got it wrong, sent Dale off because of the extent of the injury - which is not a consideration under the rules of the game - and the FA bottled it. We are not alone in this - many Wednesday fans on Owls Talk agree Stephens was unlucky too.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Where's the option for ... Move On ?

 

[Hotchilidog]

More frustrated by the ban. You can;'t do anything about the in game decision, but after review it should have been obvious that the 'punishment' was excessive and we have been robbed of a key player thanks tot he FA protecting their 'top' referee.

Anyway I had my fun ranting yesterday, the decision is now made, the team can properly prepare and we can look forward to two massive games against err.......massive. #timetomoveon

 

[Turkey]

Where's the option for ... Move On ?

I make no apologies for being an emotional creature. Happiness and sorrow are what its all about and I'll move on in my own time rather than being dictated too.

 

[sparkie]

Where's the option for ... Move On ?

Better if it was an option for 'I have moved on'.

People don't move on under instruction, they do so in their own time.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

What's done is done, we can't turn back the clock, I was surprisingly 'meh' (new internet word guru) about us losing by Sunday afternoon, and am surprisingly 'meh' (see former) about the expected decision. I hope it fires up the lads to 'do it for Dale' and all I care about now is Friday and watching it over in Amsterdam whilst having jolly juvenile japes!

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Disappointed but not surprised at the FA. Now gone and past, here's to stuffing Sheff Wed

 

[Bozza]

I thought Boro got promoted on Saturday, but I assume not from the amount of time they seem to be spending abusing Albion fans at every opportunity across every available channel. I imagine if they had been promoted, they would be basking in a warm glow and completely unconcerned with us.

No one that I have seen is blaming Boro, their team nor their fans. I know some people, such as my family, suffered isolated incidents after the game, but I think even those would readily acknowledge that the Boro dickheads are likely in the minority and all of us were impressed by the noise and passion generated in the stadium itself.

It's not Boro's fault that the referee dropped an absolute clanger. They got on with doing what they had to - closing the game out, and we'd have tried to do the same had the situation been reversed.

No one is suggesting that we would have won - it was clearly a difficult task ahead of us with 11 men on the field but all this talk of "you only have 1 shot on target, you would not have won" is absolute nonsense. Fans of all clubs go to football because it is not scientific. Extraordinary things happen and momentum can turn in an instant. We needed one moment of Knockaert magic, or one fumble by their keeper, one rash challenge in the box, or one shanked clearance that ricocheted off another defender's arse.

But we were denied our best chance of any of those things happening by being reduced to ten men. It was hard enough to try and break them down with eleven men out there. With ten is was next to impossible.

So, other than the subsequent abuse plastered all over Twitter, Facebook and, until we stopped registrations, NSC - I have absolutely no gripes with Boro or their fans. I do with the referee and, now, the FA and I'm most annoyed at losing a key player for the duration of the play-offs, however long that is for us.

 

[Simster]

I'm like everyone else. A bit sick of the patronising Boro gimps on here and twitter, but I don't have anything against Boro - in fact I quite like Boro as a club. I'm just so disillusioned with the game now that an honest mistake made by the referee hasn't been put right by a panel with the evidence in front of them, clearly for political reasons. The result of which is that we're now missing one of our most important players for a series we ought to have had a decent chance of progressing from.

That was absolutely NEVER a red card offence. It wasn't even a foul. These people are just moronic.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

The decision of the appeals committee is so clearly flawed and defies reason that one can only assume that the decision isn't based on the actual incident. The club must contact the FA and demand further re-examination of the case and a fresh appeal, heard by a different committee. There are so many mistakes that the whole fabric of the appeal system is called into question.

The majority of the viewing public and pundits alike called the initial decision harsh. Some questioned whether it was even a yellow card! By rejecting the appeal, they are supporting a referee who clearly erred. He initially brought out a yellow card, was then struck by the injured player, forcing him to drop the card. The injured player then showed the referee the extent of his accidental leg wound and the referee changed his mind after seeing the injury. No action against the player for striking the referee and no retrospective action from the appeals committee suggests that the hearing was not interested in seeing a wrong decision righted. They simply wanted to protect the referee.

The club cannot let this go meekly. They must fight it for the sake of all football. We, as fans, should be bombarding the FA this morning with texts, emails and phone calls. We should be demanding to know the names of those on the appeals committee and naming and shaming them. It is simply not good enough to just accept this and try and move on. It is fundamentally wrong and the authorities cannot keep getting away with protecting individuals who make mistakes. No one is learning from this. The player, the club and the fans deserve better than this nonsense.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The original decision was both inherently incorrect, and also made by an entirely incorrect process. But, that's sport. there are sh1t officials, and sometimes it is your team's turn to be on the sharp end of their sh1t.

The appeal process however - with the opportunity to inspect the written and video evidence calmly - is an entirely different kettle of fish. There is no excuse whatsoever, beyond self-protection, for that ban not to be lifted. They even had the face saving option available to them, of upholding the red card, but shortening the ban. ****ing disgusted, frankly.