CB Fry

One of the reasons will be that Bielsa himself confessed and admitted to it within a day of it first coming to light v Derby and then went into detail at a press conference a couple of days after that. He owned it, held his hands up, confessed, gave the press the quotes and story and it all moved on. Ha ha ha naughty boy. Maybe there is another universe where instead of flat batting and defensive "no comment" stuff, we were actually on the front foot on the day of the first leg, owned it. Don't give Middlesbrough the chance to own it in such a moralistic way. Maybe it makes no difference but the fact is we looked shifty and guilty from the start. Maybe it would have worked if we'd looked bolder and more brazen but with a hands up approach - doing that "look, sorry we did it but it's a bit like diving and harassing the ref and not as bad as financial cheating" stuff. Yes it's wrong sorry but its common honest. Drop in a line or two to imply that we think someone might have been doing it to us this season. A bit of bullshit. But Tonda hasn't got the personality to do that. Neil Warnock maybe, but Tonda isn't quite there yet. Plus the rule change did us of course. But Bielsa owned it in a way we never did. Boro owned the narrative and it helped fuck us over.

If it was us there would be about 30% of this forum desperate for us to play the kids/reserves and get knocked out of the Conference League at the earliest possible opportunity.

I'd like to think we're in a decent position to sign Larin for next season. As long as he doesn't have a miraculous world cup like a hat trick against Bosnia or something.

A legal person who, would you believe, is a fan of Southampton Football Club.

Maybe find another forum because the shark infested waters of Saintsweb are clearly not to your taste.

My point is the people who can't handle "the shark infested waters" of football might just be the bedwetters crying about how hard done by we are because the independent board had "Middlesbrough" people on it. Man the fuck up and move on.

You're not one of those bawling their eyes out about a lawyer who a decade ago did some work for Middlesbrough in an employment dispute, are you?

Everyone involved is a duplicitous corrupt liar - everyone, the EFL, the independent panel, the FA to the young intern, Boro of course but also Parsons and SR - everyone is in the wrong and they all need punishment, recrimination, or just to be defied and rebelled against - fuck you EFL etc etc. Everyone is in the wrong. Everyone. Except one guy and you'll never believe who that is.

Excellent summary.

Honestly insane to me that people can only see sacking Tonda as as submissive act that we'd only do because we're weak and its what Pompey or Boro might want us to do. His fuck ups have embarrassed the club, damaged the brand of the club in the community and to sponsors and cost us a very good shot at two hundred odd million quid (and keeping some excellent players). The idea that he could conceivably be manager next season is fucking insane. Every press conference, every i interview, every game is going to be tarnished with this shit. We need to start again. Be strong, take responsibility and clean the club up. That's how we "fight back" for fucks sake.

What does "fighting back" actually entail?

Bullshit. There was clearly something rotten in the culture of that analysts/backroom department and Tonda at the heart of it. Your response is to accuse the most junior member of staff of lying is a great example of how these cuntish cultures are allowed to pervade. "If you don’t like it, just eff off and get a different job" Sure sure.

Well, anyone can come up with reductive, glib post rationalised solutions, can't they. If it's so jolly easy to whistleblow without consequence then maybe it was easy to not send interns out to spy in the first place. Not that unreasonable a proposition, right?

What shitty point are you making here? The intern did it all off his own back? It was his idea? Or even if you go along with your interpretation - he was happy to go along with it - so what then? Tonda is his boss so the buck still stops with him. It doesn't exonerate Tonda. Hats off for coming across as even more a twat second time round. People have rent and bills to pay you know.

Oh piss off. Not everyone has that kind of freedom in the job they do which funnily enough they might need to pay the bills or build a career in a tough industry to progress in. Life is a bit more complicated that your reductionist take in it.

Guess the FA is more about bans and fines as they don't run the competitions.

From the conversations with the intern and others during the investigation. It's not just us listing out confessions.

HAVE THAT YOU CUNTS

If he can get us up while conceding 16 goals all season like he did with Burnley then yeah that’s fine

Absolute forum gold.

All hail the first "Let's all do AFC Southampton" post of the summer.

I had booked a hotel in London anyway because I went to a gig last night (Black Box Recorder, early 2000s pop fans) and OF COURSE the place is full of Middlesbrough cunts. Hope them and their stupidly beardeded manager get smashed but they are going to bloody win aren't they

Didn't QPR play Middlesbrough earlier this season?? Fucks sake

Shall I tell you who else was "hoping he wouldn't get noticed"?