Midfield_General

Yeah me too. It's been surprisingly quiet from the players since the day of the expulsion though. If there was total open revolt, you'd think they would have been getting a bit more lairy about it on Insta and whatnot.

Oh I completely agree with you, but I don't think the club really care about that, or there would have been signs by now. A culture has already been exposed where those at the top regularly showed disregard for those below them. I think they want to keep him because it's too much of a headache to roll the dice on yet another new manager, and the only things that they would consider worthy of driving a reconsideration of that would be a ban or a player revolt, both of which would essentially force the decision. Honesty, I don't think they give a toss about anyone else, especially those further down the food chain like support staff or fans. All just IMO of course

At this point I think two factors decide whether he stays or goes: 1. Does he still have the dressing room 2. Are the FA going to ban him If the club was going to get rid on ethical grounds, or because there was fury at what he had potentially cost them financially, I think they would have made some noises to that effect by now. Suspended pending FA investigation or whatever. As it stands, if the majority of the key players say they'll still play for him, and he comes through the FA investigation unscathed, I think they'll keep him. But if either of those factors goes against him, he's gone. I don't think 'fan reaction' will play any part in it. And judging by the comments on here and elsewhere, which isn't necessarily representative of the fanbase as a whole but does give a decent flavour, it feels like the tide is turning towards a (slimmish, maybe 65-35) majority wanting to keep him now.

Yep fair enough I resign for being shit (Note to Parsons: see, not hard is it Phil?)

I know. It was just a joke because I'm bored. And it was rubbish anyway so I've deleted it. But your reply has preserved it in all it's rubbish glory for future generations, so that'll teach me

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Don't forget Brentford And Palace And Fulham All similar sized clubs to ours, all now disappearing over the horizon with consistently solid Prem finishes / European challenges / proper silverware.

So when do we think we'll hear something, and what do we think it will be? Let's start the betting... I'm going for 4pm this Friday, with a two-line statement that says that they are currently working with the FA on an investigation and cannot comment further at this time. Followed by two more weeks of radio silence, continuing an information vacuum that gets filled with more wild speculation and rumour.

You are spot on on all three. But the fact that those utterly fundamental basics are things that our incredibly highly-paid Executive Board 'need to learn' says all you need to know about why we are in this situation. These are all things I'd expect any half-decent Business graduate to be able to identify straight of college. The fact that no-one on our Board considered these basic measures until it was way too late and the irreversible damage had been done says everything. Putting aside the actual cheating and focusing on how the fall-out was handled, the people running the club simply don't have the skills, knowledge, experience or expertise to do it competently. Whatever fancy job titles they love to give themselves, they're just not qualified. Dragan, Parsons, Sibley - they literally don't know what they're doing.

Nuno about to become available

Amazing that no-one at the club realised that we're not in Germany then, really. You'd think at least one of them would have noticed.

Come on then @LeG. It's done - so it's time to say more and give context like you said you would. What can you tell us

The concept of them knowing how to either formulate or execute anything resembling positive PR is laughable at this point. From everything we’ve seen so far, they either don’t care how they/ the club are perceived, or (more likely) simply don’t have the understanding or skills to manage it. From a purely professional perspective, I’ve not seen an organisation so blasé about completely trashing its own brand since Ratner’s. It’s actually quite remarkable.

JWP manages to help relegate not one but two teams in the same season. Is that a new record? While KWP, Fernandes and Armstrong all achieve back-to-back relegations in successive seasons.

Turkish vs. MLG vs. Fabrice29 in a powerful, men-only, three-way jostle where all the men cometh It's one hell of an image

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