New England Patriots fans start raising money to pay Deflategate fine for their billionaire owner

The response has been swift, and deluded

The wagons have been circled at record pace in New England after the NFL handed down stiff punishments to the Patriots last night over Deflategate. Investigators uncovered enough circumstantial evidence to find the Patriots were probably guilty of illegally letting air out of their footballs prior to last season's AFC Championship game against Indianapolis, earning quarterback Tom Brady a four-game suspension to start the 2015 season, the forfeiture of draft picks and a $1million fine, the largest ever given to an NFL team. The howls of opposition from outraged Pats fans have been long and loud, with some prompted to begin an online campaign to raise the money to pay the team's fine. Yes, you read that right, fans are clubbing together to raise $1million so owner Robert Kraft, with a reported net worth of $4.6billion dollars, won't have to cobble together some loose change.   The Gofundme page, called 'Paying the bill of the Patriots', states: "We obviously know we won't reach One Million Dollars, however we do believe the fine is bulls**t and want to help anyway we can."   The Patriots have, meanwhile, indicated they will appeal and Kraft last night released a statement which read: “Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league. Today’s punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence."