Graffito

An alternative take on Middlesborough fans, and granted it’s a tiny sample. There were say 15 or 20 in the bar of the hotel we were staying in after the semi final second leg in Southampton. They sat chatting football and drinking lots of beer, the kind of thing I do. One said Saints deserved to win on the night. Another wished us well in the final. Seemed a sound bunch to me, especially compared to some of the head bangers and head the balls we’ve seen at st Mary’s over the years.

From the information in the public domain his position is untenable. I’m surprised he’s still there. You wonder whether that’s more indecision and dithering by SR or whether there’s something else holding it up. Nonetheless, this article for me adds to the sense that we may be losing an excellent coach. (I read the article in the newspaper. This is behind a paywall so can’t help if you don’t have a subscription). https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/tonda-eckert-southampton-spygate-play-offs-dn722kv26

Absolutely. It’s a poor and inflexible rule. Add to that the fact that no penalties were introduced with the rule, the process issues, and the way in which the panel applied the rule (vis apparently treating the play offs as a separate competition from the league) and you get the mess we find ourselves in. They could have just beefed up the penalties for the existing good faith rule, added them to the rule book after Leeds and left it at that.

Southampton Football Club take note - this is how you do humility.

A precedent has been set. Spying in the Play Offs means expulsion from the competition. Spying during the course of a regular season means a deduction of three points, subject to mitigation. Had the EFL thought this all through and made these draconian penalties explicit in the rules when they introduced Regulation 127 none of this spying would have happened, none of the valid questions about process would have occurred and they would not have thoroughly pissed off everyone associated with the play offs except Middlesborough. They have also left themselves open to legal action from the likes of Hull, Wrexham, about which I care not a jot. And while I’m moaning about the EFL, could they not have agreed a proper reciprocal arrangement with the Premier League to the effect that points deductions applied to the following season are applied automatically in whichever league the penalised team finds itself. Sporting sanction seems to be used synonymously with expulsion. Unless sporting sanction is so defined in the EFL rules, then what are points deductions if not sporting sanctions. This might have given the panel a bit more flexibility in applying a sanction that was both punishment and deterrent without applying the disproportionate sanction of expulsion.

If this debacle has taught the club anything, it’s that nobody should be given carte blanche. Checks, balances, accountability. Above all and fundamentally, adherence to the rules the club signs up to as a member of the EFL.

So what about the clubs that have cheated whilst winning multiple competitions yet have been allowed to keep their titles? That simple eh?

You’re not alone Whitey, though I’ve been able to opt for active surveillance. Good luck with your treatment.

The boy’s a fool.

Saints have an important match to win. That’s the only thing that matters right now.

Under no circumstances should they allow that prick with a drum into our stadium.

He has a speech impediment. People with speech impediments use so called crutch words to get past blockages and continue speaking. Great credit to him for doing interviews. I listened to what he said rather than how he said it and I thought he spoke well.

Not being funny but are their set pieces worth spying on?

I can’t recall that 4-0 defeat. Can you help jog my memory.