Lord Duckhunter

I would like to have answers to more questions before I change mine. 3 I can think of off the top of my head. The initial response of “lone wolf” & lying to the EFL seriously undermined us from minute one. Was this based on anything Tonda said, did he lie to Parsons when first asked about it. The panel unimpressed with this. Did he really think it was against the rules, or was this a lie. The panel were unimpressed with this as well. Why the fuck hasn’t he released a statement, even if it’s just a holding bland, “feel your pain” type. Maybe lawyers/LMA involved, but if not, this shows a lack of character. I’d also like to know more around the bullying claims. Not the actual bullying, it’s a man’s world, but what was the specific push back from the victim. Was it “I’m not doing this because it’s against the rules”, if so, it’s criminal he didn’t go and check or at least cover his tracks and stop doing it. Or was he too arrogant to think he was on the wrong path.

What £200 million? You’ve been in the public sector too long… It’s pretty irrelevant anyway, he’s going to get a ban. Deciding whether to keep him or not, is like me deciding whether I’ll give it to Sydney Sweeney doggy style or reverse cowgirl. We won’t get the option.

Used to go to the south of France every year staying on campsites, having 4 kids it was a lot cheaper than package holidays. There were a few companies then keeping the costs down, we found one Euro Sites, which used to buy pitches off Key camp outside of school holidays, and re sell them cheaper. You didn’t get fined by the schools either then. Now it only seems to be Euro camp and prices are astronomical (we looked at taking grand kids). For families it was great, kids were doing football, tennis, swimming etc clubs, messing around with friends, just came back for quick BBQ before disappearing again. Loads of different nationalities and we always went end of June beginning of July, so World Cup/Euros would be on some years. Tents already up, so no divorce activity beforehand, but we then started to upgrade to mobile homes. The oldest kids are nearly 40 now, and they still go on about the great times. Meet people we’re still friends with. Really cheap holidays, decent facilities and great Mediterranean weather 90% of the time.

The club will have planned for losing in the playoffs, who would go and who they’d want/be able to keep. The spanner in the works is blokes we’d clearly be able to keep using spygate, or more likely their agents using spygate, to manipulate a way out or get a premium for staying. It may also encourage sides to take the piss and try and nick a couple on the cheap. It’s the ones we probably would have ditched had we won promotion that worry me. Manning, Fellows, Wellington, Flynn Downs, Matsuki, wood, even Azaz, are they going to think fuck this, and want to move on. Larin, another one, will he be up for another shot, and more importantly, will he play at the same level. Let’s get Bree done now. We can’t be rebuilding from scratch, and we may need to dig our heals in over a couple and tell them they’re not going anywhere. THB, Jander, Charles and obviously, Peretz, we probably planned for. I’d ask Leo to stay and reassess in winter window agreeing a move if we’re not in or amongst the autos, and that would be it, outside of the Archers & Edozies of the world. If Baz is in nets, god help us. So we need keeper, centre half, centre midfield, starters. Top championship quality, to slot straight in to a good side. Then use the loan market for an Archer replacement, and another CM.

Dear God, no. He’s fucking pony.

No fucking chance

I don’t think football bans quite work like that.

Whose fault is it that we’re starting on minus 4?

Wait until the FA ban him, they’ll be all out in force again. Bielsa wasn’t banned, we didn’t gain an advantage, a bloke on the FA meet “Gibbo” once, there’s an agenda against Saints, everyone does it daily and twice on a Thursday, and the DFB wouldn’t have banned him in Germany.

Gambling debts and bookmakers owing you money used to be debts of honour, so were unenforceable by law. I’m not sure if they still are, as it’s not so shady nowadays.

From what I can see. The fight back involves continuing to moan about the punishment, banging on that it’s only the last 72 hours that’s the problem, reminding everyone it’s legal in a different country, and keeping the bloke whose direct actions have led to us being 4 points behind everyone else before a ball has been kicked.

Give them a points deduction.

It what way was it over the top? The lack of understanding is incredible. The play offs were ruled to be a separate competition, once the first leg was played there was absolutely no other realistic sporting sanction available.

Dear god, what a Karen. So the punishment for cheating in a play off game worth £200 million is……. A fine, and a suspended points deduction. That’ll definitely stop anyone else from doing it 🤣🤣

I think rule B15 will be used,similar to the way Leeds got done. If people think Premier league clubs can go round streaming opponents tactical shape, set piece drills and other stuff before matches, and not get any sanction, they need to give their head a wobble. “In all matters and transactions relating to the League each Club, Official and Director shall behave towards each other Club, Official and Director and the League with the utmost good faith."

There’s zero chance we were going down once we got Larin, Bree back & Peretz zero. Even if you believe Tonda is the only man who could have got us into the play offs, we’re still 4 points worse off next season because of decisions he made. This wasn’t some tactical mistake or bad signing. It’s was a complete and utter balls up, which has resulted in a loss of revenue, standing in the game, and probably one or 2 players we may have been able to keep hold of (had we lost to Hull). He’s probably cost us sponsorship deals and season ticket revenue as well. I’ve seen nothing which suggests this goes higher than Tonda, but until there’s evidence it did, he needs to pay the ultimate price.

Because of his actions, a decent side will be broken up, we lost the chance of promotion & could face further charges & scrutiny. It’s unbelievable people think he should keep his job after that monumental mistake. Unlike Bielsa he didn’t take accountability for this from the off. It looks like he lied by pretending he thought it wasn’t illegal. Why did he think Salt objected to doing it against Ipswich, because he had a haircut that day he didn’t want to miss?

Thomas Frank

Had he even said anything, maybe an apology is in order. I thought he wanted to discuss this, but was unable to. Well now’s the fucking time. Even if he’s being advised by lawyers, surely some kind of statement to the supporters is in order.

I thought I was head over heart on this, wanting Middlesbrough to win as I think they’ll be better than Hull next season. However that soon changed when I heard the actual result, was actually more pleased than I thought I’d be. We’ve gone away for a few days & I was drinking with some northerners last night, mainly Liverpudlians of both persuasion and a random Blackpool supporter. Every one of them was pleased it was Hull, but what surprised me was how little they knew about it, apart from one Evertonian the rest really hadn’t paid any attention to the whole thing. The bloke who had paid attention was a bit of an anorak, he seemed to know every Saints Everton game going back to the 70’s. Anyway he made a point I thought was worth sharing. Whilst the Premier League don’t have a spying rule, they do have the “utmost good faith” catch all rule. He said if we’d been doing it in the Preimer League, they would have had us on this. As he pointed out, just because there isn’t a specific rule, doesn’t mean clubs can fly drones or any other sneaky ways to watch training. He made the point that this rule gives both sides a bit of wiggle room around punishment which the EFL one doesn’t. You have either broke the rule or you haven’t , there’s no grey area the “good faith” rule gives you

I think we need to make a big statement similar to when we took Pardew in league 1. He wasn’t one of my favourite blokes, but he was a Premier league manger. It made a statement and I’m sure it made players mind up if they doubted we were determined to get back up. Maybe Dyche isn’t ideal, but he’s got contacts with agents and other managers (important in the loan market), he’s got a reputation in the game and would send out a statement we’re not mincing about with hipsters. He won’t be affected by any outside pony and will buy right into the “let’s show the bastards”. This time round the job is for a man, not a fucking laptop merchant. This is going to be a tough league next season, with West Ham or Spurs, Sheffield Utd & Norwich won’t be as pony as they were this year, Middlesbrough (if they lose today) will be tough, Wolves & Burnley aremt going to do a Leicester. We can’t spend 5 or 6 games with a manager coming to terms with the league.

Good point 👍

That’s a shame, SAF was my choice to replace Tonda

I wouldn’t, she’s a 2 Pinter, so I show some respect

I’m meeting family in France next week & there will be a coach from a league one club there (we’re related through marriage). I’ll ask him, but never get much out of him, and I pretty much stopped asking after he told me I was “too harsh” on Baz after his first premier league spell.