Nordic Saint

The difference now is that for the first time in years we have a manager who players want to play for. With a different manager, I doubt that Peretz would have wanted to stay.

It's more likely he was the Me in The Spy Who Shagged Me

I remember driving to the 2nd leg of the play-off semi-final and making the mistake of switching on BBC Radio Solent, expecting a positive pre-match build-up, only to hear Adam Blackmore talking, pretty much as you describe. Tw@t. I switched him off after less than a minute and really don't want to hear him ever again.

Why not? Leeds won the Championship trophy and Bielsa was voted EFL Championship Manager of the Year the season after their Spygate scandal.

The cloud may have a big silver lining. If we can win the Championship next season, not going up via the play-offs will be one of the best things that's happened to us in recent years. We'll have a league winners trophy and be better prepared for the Premier League, like Leeds after we beat them in the play-off final. It certainly sounds like Dragan is up for it.

Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa win Fair Play prize at FIFA Football awards for role in Aston Villa game despite 'spygate' row | talkSPORT

This is grossly unfair of Arsenal. By encouraging the opposition to watch their training sessions less than 72 hours before a big game, they are gaining an unfair advantage by intimidating them.

Bielsa was rewarded with the FIFA Fair Play Award at the end of that season, and given the EFL Championship Manager of the Year award the following season.

Bruno Fernandes throws himself down, clutching his face and screaming, trying to get players sent off, if they make even slight contact with him anywhere above waist level, and he's just been voted Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year for 2026. Yet many of these same sports writers wrote that filming part of a training session on a phone was something terrible.

If we can keep Tonda, Peretz will want to stay: What Southampton's Daniel Peretz has said on Spygate saga amid new transfer hint

And with the poll not going the way they wanted, it looks like that fin has fallen off and they're frantically flapping against the tide.

Where did you see that? It doesn't surprise me though. I haven't seen a Saints team playing for their manager like they have for Eckert for a long time. Rival teams will be hoping that he's not still our manager next season. In fact, they'd all probably take him if they could,

No, we fight back by not doing what 100% of Pompey and Boro fans want us to and sacking the best manager we've had for years. It's time to stand up to the pressure from those who don't have our best interests at heart.

If he's been promised a job for life at Boro, he wouldn't need to look for another job. He probably knows too much for them to risk letting him go anyway.

Yes, like the Middlesbrough connections on the independent commission, purely coincidental, of course,.

if a young analyst were sent from Middlesbrough to spy on Southampton for a couple of months, then returned to Middlesbrough with information he'd gathered to be used against Southampton, and then told to delete his linked-in profile on the day some of that information was made public, that would be OK, wouldn't it? Purely hypothetical, of course, because nobody could get away with it, could they? Anyway, even if it was possible, it couldn't have been Taylor as, according to online profiles, he was never at Southampton: Jason Taylor - Manager profile | Transfermarkt

You'd hate Sir Alex Ferguson then. He could be mean and nasty with youngsters. As for Brian Clough, he would often humiliate them. What you need is a warm, cuddly manager like Russell Martin.

Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa win Fair Play prize at FIFA Football awards for role in Aston Villa game despite 'spygate' row | talkSPORT But, to be fair, Leeds are a bigger club than us, so they can do what they like. If they'd been in our position now, there's no way they'd have been thrown out of the play-off final. Instead of an ex-Boro player on the independent commission, there'd have been an ex-Leeds one.

Bielsa was given the FIFA Fair Play Award at the end of his spygate season, followed by the Championship Manager of the Year award the next season, when his Leeds team won the Championship. Yes, there is anew rule now, but all this moralising...

Hi Steve. It's Neil here. Everything going according to plan. So who do you want on this Independent Commission?

They had representation in both presenting the evidence with Neil Bausor on the EFL Board and in judging it. This would not be permitted in any other legal case.

Bielsa won the Championship with Leeds the following season, and was named Championship Manager of the Year: Derby training ground 'spy': Le:eds boss Marcelo Bielsa takes responsibility - BBC Sport Bielsa wins Championship LMA award | Football News | Sky Sports Even with the new 72-hour rule, the moralising and double standards are ridiculous.

Not really. Neil Bausor, Middlesbrough's Chief Executive, employed by Steve Gibson, represents the Championship on the EFL board.

Exactly. We've been punished enough as it is. The last thing we want to do is punish ourselves even more by getting rid of such a good manager. That would be stupid.

Will all of these members of the EFL Board be involved in the prosecuting case or only the EFL Championship representatives? EFL Board - The English Football League Anyway, no final decisions are going to be made until they've all had their lunch.