S-Clarke

''That's one hell of a stretch to come to that conclusion''

No one is using this to fuel any agenda Manji. Give it up, seriously. You're better than this. I can see the big picture and the big picture is that Sport Republic have been the worst thing to have ever happened to this football club.

I'd say they wouldn't be doing this if they knew they wouldn't be there, but we were still selling our tickets this time yesterday. I don't really want it overturned though. The people at this club need to suck it up, own it, and give us poor fans some compensation for all of this.

This all feels like desperation tbh. We're trying to put our side out now via snippets to make us look better, then it'll be a woe be me for us later on in our statement.

That is a fair angle to take, for sure, looking at other sanctions it doesn't seem proportionate. The 'play offs' being seen as a cup competition, rather than a league extension, has muddied it all and confused the EFL/commission I think. But also, look at it this way - we know of 3, and those 3 games weren't in our favour. What if we did this against Wrexham beforehand and ditto Charlton, and got our wins on the back of that? It brings the long winning runs into question, it simply has to. You can't say you've done it 3 times, but only use the examples where it hasn't benefited us as a defence. At this point I think it's clear we've done this across multiple games which have swung in our favour. Who I currently feel sorry for more in all of this are the fans of Wrexham, Millwall, Derby and Hull. Seemingly none of those have got a fair shot if the severity of what we've done, and the relentlessness of it, comes to light. On the outset it seems a small misdemeanour, but you have to feel there is a lot more to it. The EFL have handled it terribly though. But I go back to the fans in all of this - we're the ones being punished as part of all this, the full force of this should be felt by the individuals who have done it. We've done nothing, neither have Hull or Millwall or Wrexham or Derby. We're all being punished.

What the fuck at that EFL statement? Seriously? What a mess they've made of this. Poor Hull City. Fuck me.

This is why I imagine there are the PFA angles being played out at the moment, players will be looking through their contracts for any little thing.

It doesn't mention bullying specifically, but putting together some comments on here with the findings in that article it's easy to come to that conclusion. ''Analysts were upset and knew they'd done wrong, but were following orders from Tonda'' - WhatsApp messages implicated Tonda instructing these analysts to do these trips, including criticism when they didn't get good enough data from the Oxford mission.

Lots of detail around the players thoughts in the Athletic article as well. This has brought reputational damage to them as well, and footballers are 'brands' these days. It's all an absolute mess and I can sense this getting a hell of a lot worse. Law suits will be the order of the entire summer, forget transfers.

I can't agree, I think he was dumb with this. It's the equivalent of admitting full liability at the scene of an accident, even if you are guilty, you don't say a fucking thing. and certainly not in the oppositions backyard. If he really wants to be honourable and hold his hands up, then he'd have communicated to the fans.

That doesn't make sense, the handling of this from the EFL has been piss. As we've clearly been doing this all season, you have to say our playoff place is in question - so fit it into the schedule, put Wrexham or Derby in, let them play Boro and then whoever wins faces Hull. It feels like Boro have been rewarded when they didn't deserve it. I get we have to be punished, but you don't need to issue unjust rewards either.

I think this will be the basis of our appeal today. Why give us -4 points? We'll start with Bazunu in goal instead, that'll be harsher.

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.