Lallana's Left Peg

As funny was it was seeing that happen today - and it was absolutely hilarious - don't let the brief respite detract you from the fact it should have been us there celebrating going up but for a catastrophic failure at how the club is running and governing itself. Next season it will be much harder to go up, with better teams in the division and likely us having a team of lower quality, and certainly depth. We also have the small matter of 4pts to make up, and a playoff setup that introduces the potential for random factors derailing you. I am not entirely sure what the new financial rules mean in all this either. The club, if they choose to take any sort of accountability (it's not been forthcoming publicly thus far), owe it to the fans to give it a proper go, especially with it being the last year of parachute payments. As for Boro, their fans must be devastated. Bottled automatics and the playoffs twice in a single season. Now their best player and homegrown talent will leave and they have their own mountain to climb in the summer. Even with the tailwind of their media buddies during spygate they have continually let their fans down on the pitch - and now they are starting to ask questions of their club themselves.

I would. The players don't deserve this. Even when we've been utterly shit in the past and there was incompetence above them I'd go and watch because none of it was the players fault.

The way I am trying to rationalise it: 1. It feels unlikely it only happened three times this season. 2. If it happened more than that, it had a bigger influence on our season 3. If it had a bigger influence on our season then it did play a role in us getting into the playoffs. 4. Would we have got into the playoffs if we didn't spy? That way, being kicked out seems less bad in terms of processing the shock of how this has all come about. Also, if the appeal is successful, who on earth leads the team out on Saturday and what are the players thinking?

We don't know what evidence Boro submitted. We don't know what evidence Saints submitted. We have no precedence for a punishment with the current rules. We do know that the EFL have to be fair and proportionate in their punishment. We do know that Saints can appeal. We do know there is a game in 4 days that the EFL have the right to postpone or cancel. Everything else is just irrelevant noise. Fun to speculate though.

Yep - fair. The sub the EFL for panel in that 🙂 A combination of logistics and the rules / law will make this hard for it to be bigger than the initial charge unless Boro found a ridiculous amount of evidence and / or something that was highly incriminating that couldn't be dismissed with doubt or reason. One chink in their approach was already exposed in the last 24hrs when the clubs their media puppets felt comfortable naming as witnesses to spying came out and firmly dismissed it. Now we're down to a club thinking Saints knew their set pieces and it sounds like an ex-employee (who also worked for Boro) being mentioned. Neither would stand up as serious evidence in front of a panel aware of all legal ramifications. So the unknown is...do Boro have more evidence? And is there more evidence? There wasn't too long to gather it all but you never know what is shared in public and what is kept behind.

Boro have submitted evidence to suggest this was not a one off incident in order to cast doubt in the mind of the EFL. They want to make it bigger than this incident. They know they need to. The EFL is in a tricky spot with this all and that is in all likelihood going to play into Saints hands - if Boro are successful in convincing the EFL to make this bigger than it is with whatever evidence they have submitted, what do the EFL do next that doesn't cause even more issues than already has and impacts other clubs?

Plenty of twists and turns in public content yet but there are just a few things worth bearing in mind in all this - which aren't rocket science: 1. Boro feel aggrieved - as they should - and are using every tool at their disposal to ensure anything they could get out of this, they do. Saints messed up, Boro are just seeking to capitalise. They are acting in their best interests, as we would ours. I don't blame them. 2. They almost certainly know that the incident alone wouldn't result in anything favourable for them as a proportionate punishment, so have worked hard to try and prove it is bigger than incident so they can achieve point 1 above. To be absolutely clear, I have zero belief they care about the integrity of the game. They have a charge sheet themselves in the past that makes that clear. They are out to look after themselves - as every club is. 3. A part of their tactic will be to own the public narrative. Saints by way of strategy are remaining quiet because they think that helps their cause. Boro are pumping all sorts out there in order to sway public opinion on the matter. That is their right. It's clear the journalists they are using to do this - I don't have an issue with those journalists, because that is the game they play. They'll be puppets for clubs to garner favour down the line. That's how the industry works. They are also using careful language in every article - the usual favourites of 'understands' etc. because that's how nothing gets back to them and they don't actually make claims as facts, they merely speculate. 4. Also remember that the media doesn't care for impartial, balanced reporting. It survives on negative and sensational news. This is right up their street. Saints haven't challenge the charge and need to answer for their breaking of the rules. They were charged with an incident at Boros training ground. They are not charged with breaking any other rules, any other time, despite Boro trying very hard to come up with something. Saints risk, as it has been from the start, is the degree to which this was a planned operation and supported within the club. They are not denying it happened. They are not denying it is wrong. They have to prove who was involved so the panel can determine the type of punishment. Expect more Boro narrative for a while yet. They'll continue to go for it, and the media will be delighted to receive their orders because of the interest this is getting. Saints will receive their punishment and then more fun and games will ensue - either way. Personally I am gutted the club did this, it's pathetic and quite frankly unnecessary and stupid. To be put in this situation is disgusting, and if it's bigger than a few people making a silly decision then we deserve all we get. But don't let the public narrative inform you of a single thing about this case - the truth is the last thing they care about.

No, they pay them alot more when they sack them after a few months...

The season is not written off but this is not an appointment that would drive confidence of a play off push. Too many unknowns - it is a clear risk. Remind me how SR risks have turned out for this football club during their ownership? Go back to this summer...you'd surely have been concerned if Eckert was appointed as our manager? Just because SR continue to fail doesn't mean we should accept more risks and a lower caliber of manager. Their constant failure should not diminish our expectations of competency in the slightest. The only other thing I'll say is that it may be an enforced risky decision, as SR have now backed themselves into a corner where they can't attract managers due to both their record with them and their patience with them. It also defies belief that Spors attracted Eckert to the club by saying he'd be Stills successor. Spors himself has created this situation and it is complete lunacy.

If Tonda Eckert was jobless, would he get a job as Manager in any other club in the Championship? Clubs with far less resources than us appoint managers with far more experience in order to try and get the most out of what they have at their disposal. It seems SR constantly go for the moon shot and when they fail cut the cord quickly. What they fail to realise is the material impact this has on the players and the supporters. It is just a mathematical game of chance to them.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest that GON played for Portsmouth. It does bother me that there is evidence in the public domain that he clearly is very happy to be part of Portsmouth teams that beat Saints and takes great delight in it. The fans would hate him and anyone comes in has a huge job on their hands and doesn't need the handicap of that stink over them. There also isn't any evidence that he is the right man for us either.

The club is overly familiar with losing and allergic to appointing any sort of experience to address it on or off the pitch.

Based on what Still and Charles said I believe he'll stick with the same formation and largely the same players and simply lay down the challenge of proving to themselves they can cut out the wastefulness at one end and gifts at the other. If they mentally can't do it against poor opposition he's then given himself free reign to drop whomever he wants without anyone feeling aggrieved. You could argue that ship has sailed but the players must sense it and it's time to find out who is going to dig in and who is not. We have one of the biggest budgets in the league and the players have to start showing up.

One of the fundamental principles of Sports Republic (based on Rasmus) is to buy a lottery ticket and if it doesn't work pivot quickly. Keep doing that until you hit gold and then build. But the consequence of that in football is that you have to be able to retain that individual to create the foundation for sustainable growth. Saints are stuck in a rut of a high turnover of staff and the ones we do hit on leave very quickly, leaving us completely lost.

There is some sense in this but you are asking us to place our faith in a Manager that SR have appointed which is already an unavoidable red flag, and whilst the need for stability and consistency is hugely important for the players they are currently letting the manager down and I am not sure why we think it will change when they have often let us down more than they have simply met their end of the bargain of effort and concentration. Still seems to be able to identify the issues but not correct them. That's a huge concern. It is not his fault when players miss sitters and it is not his fault when defenders make mistakes. But he is responsible for the mentality, and he is responsible for finding a way to win games with a squad that is comfortably Top 2 on paper. The clock is ticking for progress.