Saint86

I can't see them being able to do it though. He's admitted that he condoned analysts scouting the 3 sides - but its not black and white that it was a formal instruction to them breaking rules doing it. For the boro one, the official club line is that the intern was requested to go up on the Monday and went later that instructed, meaning he breached the window. For Ipswich/Eastleigh one, the official club line is that someone got hold of the CCTV footage and when it started being shown, Eckert immediately instructed that it was turned off and not used. For Oxford, the details are vague re formal instruction and timing, but its acknowledged that we did send someone to scout their training to figure out the likely formation. So 1 offence where potentially Eckert gave an instruction to the analyst team to scout inside the 72hour window (again - we don't know the timing of when, or whether he was formally instructed to do it inside the window). That's the actual hard evidence in this whole thing. 2 incidents of analysts being where they shouldn't have been inside 72hours, and 1 incident involving CCTV being given to saints that we are on record as refusing to use. There isn't a single shred of evidence of Eckert applying pressure or bullying the "junior" (intern). The messages we have seen are actually from more senior / comparable members of the analyst team to the "junior" intern, stuff like "manager loved it" etc. Even the verbal evidence after the fact makes absolutely no mention of Eckert as pressuring the junior staff. And Eckert's message doesn't reference this either. So in reality, the FA would be giving Eckert a banning order for instructing the oxford scouting incident... which may, or may not, have been an official request to break rules from Eckert, or may in fact have been the analysts collectively doing it inside the window themselves. Ditto the whole Boro affair... and doubly so for that one if they were originally instructed and planned to go up earlier in the week... The whole thing is an incredible storm in a teacup, it is mental how we've managed to handle it so badly and screw ourselves over the way we have. And re Adam Blackmore, he wants to be the club journalist for the BBC, and to run around attacking the club and Eckert from behind his microphone... well, if he thinks his stance is justified, he better get off his backside, do some journalism, and come up with evidence that categorically demonstrates the things he's claiming.

Agree with that. But there is a difference between balanced reporting and just repeatedly calling for the manager to be sacked for bullying junior staff as if its a fact, when in reality there is no evidence of that happening.

He is quality, but i doubt we'll have the money to pay what they'd ask for.

Wasn't THB the first player to comment?

This one is from Tuesday, and is in direct response to Solak and Tonda's interviews. So its very much in date and he's still pushing his narrative against Tonda.

Just listened to the latest Solent peice on BBC sounds. Blackmore on there again saying Saints should have sacked Tonda and that he is expecting the FA to sack him and take it out of our hands anyway. He thinks it's better for the club to get rid of him and have a clean sweep as it will clean up their image. This last point is clearly false as Saints have publicly stated we want to keep him and have forgiven him - if we are forced to sack him by the FA that doesn't do anything to improve our image, and in fact will reopen the whole thing and draw more negative attention on the club. Within all of this, he is again ignoring the fact that quite literally no evidence exists showing Tonda bullied junior staff. The man needs to stop digging himself a hole over this, he surely cannot continue to keep going with what is now essentially a perpetual slandering of Tonda with this false narrative 🤷. He even says that Tonda's behavior re the bullying (again, no evidence) is worse than the actual offence of spying FFS... The longer this goes on, the longer it feels like Blackmore has just developed a personal dislike of Tonda and has been doing his utmost to feed a narrative to get him sacked? Why is Blackmore not able to do the basics of his role as a sports journalist, and investigate whether there are any messages or even verbal witness statements saying Eckert bullied junior staff....acknowledge their isn't, apologise himself, and then move on.

If Saints have the money available within the PSR accounting period, there is merit to us getting deals done before June 30th. After that, the 3year rolling accounting windows no longer apply and we move to the new squad cost rules. Signing players before June 30th will mean that any transfer fee outlay this summer doesn't fall into next seasons, "squad cost" rules (i.e., 85% of revenue). Would be shrewd business to get a few deals in before the world cup... Doubly so for players like Larin or Peretz, as they're likely to be fairly key for us next season, and i suspect a lot of other clubs will be stuck waiting for the inevitable domino chain transfers to complete - which will push them after the world cup. Similarly, unless we "need" the money now (for PSR balance reasons), there is bugger all point making sales this side of June 30th - but make them under next season's rules and it increases our squad spend allowance. Could be interesting for teams like West Ham etc. as well. The guardian posted an article on them in May this year. They recorded a loss of £104M in their last set out accounts, albeit they are carrying a profit of £57M for the year before that. Apparently they're expecting a £70M-80M loss last season though... so basically they're right on the cusp of breaching PSR and its very likely they'll see at least a couple of big sales in June... Which is good news for their promotion rivals, as they lose that income from next season's income / squad cost allowance.

It will be THB and Charles for certain. And we'll take any offer north of £20-25M for Scienza. Those 3 sales should bring in circa £60M. Jander has a long time left on his contract, is young, and looks to have a very high ceiling. We should be digging our heels in with him and pushing for £30M+ for any sale imho. We need to make up a £15M drop in parachute payments. Larin and Peretz (if we sign them both) will be £10M. So we're looking at replacing THB and Charles with a pot of circa £20-30M, plus a bit of profit. If Jander goes then we'll be Spendy McSpendy.

The Echo article is an absolute non story - we have an agreed fee in place as part of the loan, and if we have the money to sign him then ofc we'll be interested.... but so will many other clubs, and is he going to pick saints over them? There is a long way to go in any Peretz transfer move imho. Hope i'm wrong on that and its announced this week, but think its an easy thing to get hyped up over (given the rubbish of the past few weeks).

Would it surprise anyone to know that on the Boro forums, there are multiple users trying to imply blame on Henry Nowak. Some saying he was following Digwa or that its not proven that he wasn't racially abusing him etc. Both of which are absolute nonsense. Some of them really are vile.

Circle the bloody wagons - blackmore and co take note.

If (thats a big if) he's here next season, i think its very likely he'd be captain.

BBD should be played as a striker - at championship level he's got goals in him and is a threat. I wouldn't write him off for us next season as we'll need more than Stewart, Larin (who hasn't signed), and Downs. BBD is on the books and almost helped fire Derby to an unlikely playoff spot... he can do similar for saints.

It was sadly ever thus. Division is fantastic for creating new avenues to exploit for political capital. BLM went to far, and i suspect was being used by the left in the USA for their broader political goals (and in particular to weaponize the vote against Trump in the USA), this one now looks like its going to be used by the Right in Britain - or at least has the potential to be that. I saw today that Badenoch came out with a statement that was essentially, "all lives matter", and got lambasted by the reform vote for not going far enough... Farage basically said, "white lives matter".... Has the potential to spiral imho.. Its also just what Southampton didn't need as a city, first Spygate ends up focusing the eyes on the city, and now this will cause community/social tensions and may see the city becoming the epicentre for a new batch of race protests/riots. I'm not going to say something hasn't gone horrendously wrong with the policing in this case. Blatantly it has, it is shocking and the police should have absolutely nowhere to hide, the 4 officers should all be facing charges in my opinion. They have a duty of care, yet they were 10mins from Southampton general by blue light and they let that poor boy die handcuffed on the street nearly 70min after arresting him. Its beyond a disgrace. Negligence, indifference, and possibly something far more insidious if racial biases did have a part to play. Also, the difference in the way they treated the Digwa and Henry in this case is just appalling on face value.... One was stabbed 4 times and chased through the streets until he collapsed, then he was all too readily dismissed by the police and arrested and handcuffed whilst he lay dying - begging for help, saying he couldn't breath, saying he'd been stabbed, asking for an ambulance... The other wasn't handcuffed, even when being arrested for murder ffs, that juxtaposition is just mental to me... its shocking by the police, the lot of them should be in a courtroom imo, not still on active service building up a cushty pension plan. Their duty is to protect and serve the public. Not get the murderer a coffee after already doing their own part to make sure his victim died on the street in their custody. As for what happens now, this whole case should be a klaxon to finally tackle knife crime, which is what his family have called for (his dad's speech was incredibly dignified ). This case is particularly appalling, but its ultimately about another young life lost to some knife obsessed psycho. Outside of that, the difference in treatment of the two of them is a stain on Hampshire constabulary, i think it has to be investigated, and it should lead to a change to policing - for improving basic standards and training in the police, and for removing any notion of political interference OR correctness in how different people get treated. The police are there to protect the public, irrespective of their backgrounds. Thoughts to his family. I can't even imagine going through something like this.

I like him, he's very enthusiastic, he's a nice guy, but he's also shown a start lack of independent critical thinking. Let alone the basics of "innocent until proven guilty" re defending the club and fans he makes his living from. Its possible to be both a fan of the club and hold the club to account, but fundamentally he isn't a saints fan, its shown these past couple of weeks, and he's failed the club/fans re spygate imo. He swallowed the media hype and started acting like this was the crime of the century frankly, called the club morally repugnant all over social media and podcasts etc, and acted like Eckert had gone out and shot the pope or something. He completely lost perspective, and rather than do his part as a journalist (dig into facts/dates) or at least try to temper the media storm, he essentially went along with the herd / mob mentality and just started pouring gasoline on the fire. Back in the real world, its fundamentally the same offence as Bielsa (who kept his job and won a fair play award), the club/fans/players/staff have collectively been egregiously punished (I.e., more than enough). And to date, there is still no evidence of Eckert bullying staff... despite Blackmore being incredibly negative about Eckert and basically saying he had to go / position was untenable etc. Maybe he was delirious with the whole Villa thing and took his eye of the ball, but his job relates to Southampton Football club and covering it for the fans. Throughout this time he's been disappointing re journalistic diligence and, for me, he failed at impartially covering the club and fans that deliver him his livelihood. Should Blackmore acknowledge his erroneous handling of the whole affair? Everyone else is apologising and Blackmore has fundamentally jumped on the bandwagon - I do think he's damage his position with the club and with a portion of the fanbase. Edit - i will still enjoy his coverage of saints, i think going home with Adam and Jo has been a great podcast this year. But i think he does need to at least consider/reflect the way he's covered saints this past few weeks. At a time of it being "the world vs saints", he sadly joined the bandwagon.

It is unfortunately part and parcel of match preparation on the continent / abroad, and is quite literally the work environment he developed within - i.e., its the sort of coach he is 🤷‍♂️. Its only the EFL that has this ridiculous rule - and just look at the Arsenal comments crying about the GKs having penalty taker "cheat sheets"... you start making these stupid rules and all of a sudden people want new rules and start saying things are unfair. The reality is that clubs should be allowed to use these routes if they think they can gleam a benefit out of it - its a competitive sport - Tonda is a winner who was going after any information that he can gleam from analytical work. All these rules should be stripped away imo - Otherwise where do you draw the line? Should we just ban analysts outright, not allow keepers to study past penalties or keep notes, or stop clubs monitoring real time health data? Not all clubs can afford those resources or implement it equally right? so must impact the integrity of the game...

As @James G posted in the spygate thread, if we keep Tonda we will move past this and it will largely be forgotten. Boro, though, will aways be remembered as the side that spent circa 270days in the top 2, lost the semi final, and lost the final of the playoffs. Thats a forever pub quiz question that will be attached to them forever 😄

There is actually a post on there attacking both Eckert and Solak's grasp of the English language 😄

I think that fundamentally, their problem is that they're from Middlesborough. A terminal condition. Will be funny when we smash their promotion hopes to pieces next season.

Obviously Boro have a thread on this, apparently he's a psychopath 😄 Tonda speaks | FMTTM

Yeah, but if he backs Tonda (and fights for / saves his career in England with the FA), then he's potentially got an elite manager with a huge debt to him. That's a fairly unique occurrence in football. A lot of ifs and maybes to come, but this could be the start of something special for saints for the next few years - one part of that is the fans rallying together and being behind the manager and club.

I mean, I'd re-sign him for the money. Ballard, Larin,, Stewart is a decent from 3 for this level. Value for money, Ballard has his whole career ahead of him, is home grown, and we have a sell on fee discount.

Solak doing his part to say the right words to try and galvanise the fanbase and club there... There is a way forward where everyone pulls together... Who knows, get promoted next season and it may even carry in into the prem and repair the bond between SR and the fans. As a club and fans, we have been guilty of trying to be media darlings and everyone's favourite underdogs for years - that isn't an option for us anymore. May do us some good.

Because our CEO had already admitted to everything.