Peter White on Middlesbrough's announcement last weekend that they couldn't filed a fit team to face Blackburn Rovers

IF only Bob Lord was still alive - and stalking the corridors of power of the FA Premier League.

"Lord Bob" of Burnley might not have been too well disposed to Blackburn Rovers' fortunes in his capacity as Turf Moor chairman.

But he was an authoritative administrator and, if he was a member of football's hierarchy today as he was in 1974, Butcher Bob would have made Middlesbrough pay a high price for last Friday's events.

That's not just my opinion.

A conversation with former Ewood physio Tony Long confirmed that Lord would have thrown the book at Boro - just as he did with Exeter City, when he was a senior member of the Football League's ruling body. Exeter refused to play a League game at Scunthorpe on April 2, 1974, as they had a large percentage of their playing staff unfit through illness.

Long, who was Exeter's physio at the time, revealed: "The upshot was that we were fined £5,000, which was a huge amount for us at the time, had to pay the matchday costs and Scunthorpe were awarded the two points.

"As I recall, we only had 13 professionals and seven had gone down with flu. Maybe, in hindsight, we should have handled it a little better. But Bob Lord saw to it that we were severely punished."

It's a precedent the Premier League would do well to consider.

Middlesbrough's attitude was one of complete disregard for everyone else and the apparent arrogance of their action must not go unanswered.

Putting two fingers up to the rest should equal three points lost.

Or is there one law for the rich (Boro) and another for the poor (Exeter)?

Bob Lord would have seen justice was done. Have the Premier League the "bottle" to do likewise?

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