S-Clarke

Yep, absolutely. Selling is easier said than done, but I will always believe that containing with this lot will be a stain on us for ever. So Dragan needs to start putting the feelers out, he'll have to take a loss but that's his fault. We shouldn't be punished long term for their ineptitude. Interesting to know what Kat thinks of all this, although a minimal part, she is still a 'visible' person and part of the board. Liebherr are dragged into this too. Poor Markus is all I can say.

What are SISU up to?

Hungry spying eyes.

The buck stops with the entire ownership model for me. They need to sell up. New owners in who can bring in their own people and build their own setup. The entire place is complicit in my eyes. There is talk about relegation for clearing the rot, but is that something we'd take next season if it meant we could start again? I have no idea what the future holds at this point.

Just noticed. All references to play off build up removed too. But still no statement. Bonkers. What do they think silence is going to do here? I remember when Lallana got hurt by naughty words said by that ref years ago, we threw an article on the OS same night saying we were appealing. Ditto when we said VVD had been spoken to illegally etc etc. But we do go quiet when we're the ones in the wrong, stand up and own it you weak fuckers.

Hopefully he can let us know when we're going to sign Eduard Sperytsan

It's fucking ridiculous isn't it, they've even handled this part badly. I just can't put into words what is going on here. Is this part of an elaborate prank, or an episode of Ted Lasso or something? This would even be far fetched for that.

If he didn't think it was a problem, why did he send our guys dressed in another teams kit in order to make us less suspicious? If he thought this was all normal, then surely they'd just turn up and get kicked away when told. Not hide in bushes/tress and wear oppo kits.

Tonda, some evidence provided by TWO analysts from Southampton apparently - they regretted, but admitted they were pressured into doing so by Tonda - who has had WhatsApp messages incriminating him uncovered. And he even had the cheek to be 'unhappy' with the level of detail they returned with after Oxford.

He was certainly not a random kid on an iPhone who had gone rouge, that's for sure. We all wanted to believe that, as we all stick up for our own club. But you can't stick up for any of this. I didn't think it would be systemic, I had a slightly optimistic view that we took a chance to have a quick gander - but clearly not, this was a systemic seriously amateur operation. Only 3 clubs? Nah, we've been doing this all season. Given that we spied at Ipswich when they were at Eastleigh, it's probably fair to assume we've spied on a lot of teams before our home game with them if they train locally. The entirety of 2026 is null and void for me as a fan. I think expulsion is harsh as a punishment on the fans, but it would not feel right to be supporting a club in that way if I'm honest. The clubs 'covert' operation has done us over here. I don't know what the point of appealing is, we're bang to rights.

Sounds like he's been a bit of a bully going by this detailed Athletic article. Yesterdays articles were grim reading, but that just takes the biscuit. I've never felt so low about football.

Jesus fucking christ, it gets worse. We've even dragged Eastleigh into this. Incriminating WhatsApp messages to Southampton’s analysts from head coach Tonda Eckert were revealed in the hearing, with the German now potentially facing his own serious Football Association charges Southampton had initially planned for Salt to go back and spy on Middlesbrough for a second day When Southampton spied on Ipswich, the operation involved dressing in Eastleigh kit as a disguise One of the key revelations at Tuesday’s hearing were the WhatsApp messages sent by Eckert to his analysts that people with knowledge of proceedings said were particularly damaging to Southampton’s case. Two of the club’s analysts gave evidence at the hearing in which they expressed remorse for their actions but said they were pushed into the spying trips. In his evidence, Eckert — who has spent most of his coaching career in Germany — claimed he was not aware that such behaviour was against the rules in England as it was widespread in European football. The hearing was told that Eckert had sent people to spy on fellow Championship sides Oxford and Ipswich but had been displeased with the quality of their findings. In the case of Ipswich, the subterfuge extended to using kit worn by Eastleigh, whose Hampshire training ground was hosting Southampton’s opponents.

Yes, because either way, however unproportionate the sanctions are, another absolute charade has happened on their watch. Everything they touch goes to shit. They will feel the full heat of the fans on this either way.

I think reputational damage is the big thing here, it's going to have a huge impact on us longer term. I see some fans saying we'll just crack on next season and win the league - but I don't think we can underestimate how much this charade is going to harm this club for many years. Player contracts, agent dealings, managers, scouting, sponsorships, media, hospitality, commercial, financial. Everything will be hit by this. Managers, players, owners will go - but the fans will still be dealing with this mess long after.

Just checked the OS. Ah, it's ok. We're still preparing for the play off final. I must have dreamt this. Fucking wankers.

I think this is where the EFL have tied themselves up in knots a bit. One angle is that this is a 'cup competition', but the other angle - and the fair angle - is that this is a continuation of the normal league season, so any punishment should be proportionate across both scenarios. By treating this instance in the same way as Swindon in a cup competition, they have muddied the waters by also including 'breaches' in regular season league games in the charges. So are we either being pushed in the context of a cup competition, or punished for the league context? It's all very confusing and I think they've made this up as they've gone along.

They truly are the gift that keeps on giving, when you think they can't get any worse, they do this.

Cone on, drop the 'he didn't know the rules act' - bullshit. We all knew, as fans. Everyone had front row seats to the Bielsa thing 6 years ago, it was everywhere, and even if he didn't 'know' there was a new rule in place to prevent it specifically, the 'good faith' rule was still there and given what happened to Leeds he shouldn't have been so dumb. Having people like Ben Reeves and Lallana in the coaching team, with very little coaching experience themselves, doesn't give much for 'corrections either'. Just amateur hour from everyone. If our defence is going to be 'we didn't know it was a rule', then I'm really at a loss as to where we go from here.

Slept on it and actually feel worse about it all this morning. Hearing us all over the morning news and on the radio for all the wrong reasons is so unfair on us fans. I also feel really bad for Hull City, a genuinely amazing achievement for them to reach the final after last season and their 'sanctions' - but they're being punished and this will undoubtably impact their buildup. And the lack of any communication from the club, the next fucking morning, shows that they are also handling this situation incredibly badly. Is there anything they can do right? Ok, we're going to appeal so it may change (It won't), but fuck me...at least put out a holding statement, at least try to appease the fanbase you're going to lose in droves. They can't do a fucking thing right at any level, at any time. They'd even fail in non-league, I'm sure of it. Incompetent morons, the lot of them.

Yeah, that's where it doesn't sit with me. If this happened in the regular season, I'd accept a points deduction and fine as a fair punishment if found guilty. The angle they are using here as I see it is that the playoffs are a cup competition, so separate from the league and must be dealt with differently (using the Swindon example). It feels like they've tied themselves up in knots, caught between two scenarios (this has never happened before) and made a right royal mess of it. One of the rules we breached, not acting in good faith, was around when Leeds did this. That was the rule Leeds breached and they had a fine. So, how has the 'not acting in good' faith charge resulted in this, given that Leeds just got a fine? I understand there is the additional 'Spying' rule now, but we were charged with both - I'm confused how the charges stack up and what punishment is tied in with which rule breaking.

Tonda, if found to be implicated - which looks fairly damming - will almost certainly be sacked by the club in breach of contract and it will follow up with an FA ban for a long period of time. We won't have a choice.

It's a bit of a weak defence if I'm honest, unless he was asleep when Bielsa did it. I don't buy that one, and even if it is genuine then it's embarrassing and shows up how weak the setup has been around him.

But they'd have left anyway had we not got promoted, and got that 40% pay cut back which they cry about. And the final wasn't this cut and dried result either, Hull could have beaten us. They'll be pissed, of course, but crying about not getting a pay rise on promotion feels a weird angle. They'd have known that when they signed.

Someone also mentions this - 2. It is likely that the sanctions already include a discount for the admission by Southampton of all charges. This means the starting point was potentially even higher - perhaps 1-2 more points or a fine as well. I appreciate the EFL for being so reasonable.

They probably saw the lack of £250m as a big enough financial penalty, I'm glad they went easy on us. In all seriousness, they should have just given us a big fine. And then every single moron involved in this should have paid it out of their own pockets.