Midfield_General

That is nothing less than a come and get me plea for a new leader for the FAB. A visionary. A leader of men*. A lion. Know anyone? (*and women and non-binaries)

Obviously people's viewpoints will differ on this, but if people are happy just to get on and blindly 'support the club' - i.e. passively accept the disastrous way SR are running the club and just keep pumping their money in as fans regardless - then in my opinion it will just prove that football fans are there to be taken advantage of in the way that SR clearly think we are. 'The club' right now is Sport Republic. Sport Republic have been catastrophic owners from the outset and now their ineptitude has now not only relegated us but has also cost us our best shot at promotion. That combination of factors could screw us for years to come. The only way we move forward as a club is to force them out. The only way we can force them out is to stop going. Don't buy season tickets, don't buy any tickets at all, don't buy merch. Withdraw support until they're gone. Reading the different posts on here, it's clear that not everyone shares this viewpoint, and that's fair enough. Everyone should do what they want to do. But for as long as the fans' money keeps flowing in, SR have no reason to hold themselves accountable, improve or move aside for a more competent owner to come in, so nobody should expect anything to change.

Yes, yes I did

Oh bless them, they want to be our rivals now: https://fmttmboro.com/index.php?threads/is-boro-v-southampton-the-longest‑distance-rivalry-in-england-now.82081/

If it is, then the very least they need to do is go public and say that. It would be the first step to getting a few people back onside, if they knew that someone was at least trying to hold people to account. But for as long as this silence goes on, and no-one knows what's happening (or not happening), the more it creates a vacuum which people fill with their own interpretations/ guesses/ rumours/ anger, and that means that the damage being done just keeps piling up. Where the fuck Sibley has been throughout this and what he is doing now I just do not know. It's not just amateur hour, it's amateur millennium.

It was the Daily Telegraph, 19th May. Written by Luke Edwards, who is of course their 'Northern Football Writer', so this whole account would have been briefed to him by Gibson's team. Excerpt below, link to full article at the bottom. Read it, weep, and consider how Parsons is apparently still somehow in a fucking job: The extraordinary messages and pictures that damned Southampton in ‘spygate’ scandal From an intern hiding behind a tree to expulsion from the play-off final, here is the inside story of club’s costly operation "Middlesbrough were so angry that they considered banning Southampton’s board members from the game at the Riverside, but decided it was better to face them. Observers kept a close eye on Gibson and Southampton chief executive Phil Parsons, ready for fireworks when the two spoke. Eyewitnesses* told Telegraph Sport that it was Parsons who instigated a conversation, grabbing Gibson gently by the arm and asking if they could go somewhere quieter for a chat. It was then, in front of senior figures at the EFL, that Parsons admitted what had happened, apologised and said the club would launch a full investigation to find out who was responsible. It was hinted that Salt may have acted alone, but they would protect the young man and would do everything they could to determine whether anyone had instructed him to travel to Teesside to record the training session. Parsons is then understood to have told Gibson that they would accept the punishment and pay the fine. The suggestion provoked the previously calm Gibson. His whole demeanour changed and the conversation became more barbed. Gibson made it clear that would not be acceptable to him and Middlesbrough would be seeking the toughest possible sporting sanction, which would mean Southampton’s expulsion from the play-offs. The atmosphere inside the boardroom darkened and worsened after Middlesbrough were held to a goalless draw in front of an angry and hostile Riverside crowd." Full article (it's meant to be behind a paywall, but it's the Telegraph, so fuck them): https://archive.ph/ZB2Gc#selection-3691.0-3711.471 (* Eyewitnesses who were in the Middlesbrough boardroom, I wonder who that could possibly have been)

Radio silence while Gibbo plans their legal defence for why they should still be promoted

Group Head of Communications and PR: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-sibley-5b898423/ That's as high as it goes before you get to the Board. He'll report to Parsons. He's a lifer who started at the bottom, worked his way up and has never worked anywhere else. So he only knows 'the Southampton way', which explains why it's a PR disaster.

'I didn't know' is absolutely incompetence, and it's not a defence. Never has been. Especially not at CEO level. The moment he got wind of it (which was before the first leg), the CEO should be kicking down doors and going scorched earth internally to find out exactly what has happened. Only once you know the situation can you formulate the plan, and for something of this magnitude, the only plan was to get the best possible specialist defence lawyer, and a crisis management specialist PR team, have them set the strategy, and then follow it. But instead, apparently without anything like knowledge of the full picture, Parsons strolls up to the man accusing him and admits guilt, because he hadn't made it his only priority to find out what had actually happened, how deep it went, how serious it was or what the actual ramifications were. It's the most amateur, ridiculous, damaging thing he could possibly have done. He absolutely has to go. Edit: Livewire beat me to it. Sorry, didn't read all the way back before mouthing off

That's an excellent piece. Spot on, and absolutely right about the bigger picture.

The way it works in any competent organisation is that the CEO sets the message in partnership with the Head of Comms and potentially an external PR agency/specialist, gets it approved by the Chairman, and then the Head of Comms and his/ her team cascades it out through the relevant media touchpoints - official statement on the OS, club social media channels, briefings to friendly local journalists (e.g. Blackmore at Solent, Alfie at the Echo) etc. Then with a story of this size the national media pick it up from there and you should have a spokesperson in place and ready to go agreeing to do interviews with selected targeted sources to fight your corner. Normally at least one of the broadsheets (Saints have traditionally had good relationships with the Telegraph and Guardian), at least one of the major radio stations (e.g. TalkSport or BBC 5Live), and Sky. As CEO, setting that narrative is a key part of Parsons' role, and as Head of Comms, advising on that and then getting it out there is basically the entire point of Sibley. The fact that even Blackmore and Alfie have turned on the club saying they're completely in the dark shows that Parsons and Sibley can't even do the basics right. Giving local journalists 'our side of the story' and getting them to go in to bat for you should be the easiest thing in the world because it's a relationship where the two parties need each other. They haven't even managed to do that. Obviously when things get legal you have to be more careful with what you say, but people with skill and experience know how to do what they need to do while staying the right side of the line. Look at how Boro's machine went into overdrive. They won the spin war (and nationwide media support, which then influences all the neutrals) instantly because Saints just stayed completely mute and let Boro fill the demand for content with their narrative. Even now, they're still letting everyone else dictate what people think. Saints are a complete joke from top to bottom. They simply don't know what they're doing, it's as clear as day.

Yeah I think the implication is three bottles = Boro bottled it three times (which could be read as bottled autos, semis and final, or first leg, second leg and final).

Aaaaah.... gotcha Good man THB 😆

Just out of interest, how do you infer how THB is feeling about the situation from him posting a photo of a pint of Guinness?

The stage I’m at is that right now they don’t deserve my support. They need to earn it back by showing leadership and taking action to show that they appreciate just how much damage they have done and that they want to put it right. Signs of that so far? Zero. I just feel totally disillusioned with the whole thing and totally disconnected. The lack of leadership and communication gets more and more staggering with each day that slips by. Apart from anything it shows a complete contempt for the fans who give so much to the club through thick and thin and who they have royally fucked over. Well, two can play at that game. You don’t give a shit about me? Then why should I give a shit about you. This is 100% on them, so until they show that they understand what they’ve done and make it clear they’re going to put it right, they can go fuck themselves.

Volcano 🤣 He’s a complete drip who has surrounded himself with incompetent goons and yes men and watched silently while they’ve spunked his millions up the wall and decimated his asset. He’s as much of a joke as the rest of them

I've actually just heard from a source who is usually spot on that Parsons is making a statement at 5pm tonight to reveal the All New Five Pledges, which I'm told are: 1. Serve the Public Trust 2. Protect the Innocent 3. Uphold the Law* 4. Play Three at the Back 5. Classified (* apparently this one "still needs a bit of work", according to Phil)

Personally I want Five Pledges from Parsons, and I want them now.

It would never have happened on Eric Black's watch, let me tell you

We're the only club in the world that could go from 'inoffensive, friendly family club and a bit of a soft touch' to 'evil incarnate and cheating so badly as to get thrown out of major competitions' in the blink of an eye. It reminds me of this timeline: 25th October 2019: Lose 0-9 at home in a league game. 9th November 2020: Go top of the Premier League. 2nd Feb 2021: Lose 9-0 in a league game. Never any middle ground with Saints. Absolutely mental club. Oh well, in theory it should mean that the pendulum will swing back the other way next season and new first team manager Adam Lallana will probably stumble across a global cure for Ebola or something.

Not quiet enough

I think it's pretty obvious by now that the club have absolutely no idea how to handle the media Fuck knows what Sibley's doing, it's literally his job. He's another one who should be feeling very nervous. As 'Group Head of Communications and PR' he has spectacularly failed to provide any sort of counter narrative in this whole sorry affair. Our PR has been as utterly appalling as every other aspect of how this has been handled.

Fair enough. We probably have very different views on it, but as you say, that's the point of a forum and life would be boring if we all agreed on everything... Personally I just want to see some sort of action from the club. Either come out swinging, back people, adopt a siege mentality and try and use it to our advantage somehow, or go scorched earth, start cleaning house and try to turn the page. This current radio silence and limbo is the worst of both worlds and isn't getting anyone anywhere. Get your act together Dragan (Although I do also suspect Dragan's probably waiting for the result of the FA investigation to see if he can sack Tonda/ the rest of those responsible without pay.)

Quite