SaintLondon

I would absolutely love it if Saints hijacked that deal. Boro tears would be wonderful. Almost as good as Fernandez last night.

I think it's fair to say the design team were given the morning off on this one - intern panicked and said same as two years ago? Done.

I could imagine JWP being announced as a new signing tomorrow with the Southampton Made slogan - a veiled slight at that lot down the road.

Had a dream that JWP went to Swansea - make of that what you will.

Very quiet isn't it - it's obvs v early but not even any BS rumours

Anyone got anything interesting to report?

I haven't actually seen one credible source for JWP returning - is it just hot air?

I have been assured by someone I trust at the club that this *isn't* the case.

Think he will be very difficult to replace.

That's a real shame.

Let's just say we were keen, would WHU deal with a likely promotion rival?

Anyone else notice how The Athletic made their hit pieces on all of this free to read? I know I'm being sensitive but I really do feel their is a genuine effort in the media to keep this dragging along and to continue to create hostility towards the club. We've been punished. Get over it and move on. I think it's a bit mad that no heads will roll in the fallout of this, I think it's harder to suggest that there is going to be a culture shift when all the same people are there. Anyway, I'm pleased Dragan has spoken and whether one agrees with him or not, it's nice to see some decision making and leadership. Roll on next season, I guess.

... "in the ongoing fallout from Spygate." Sounds ominious

We have to get him gone - it's not his fault, I'm sure he's a nice kid bit he is a walking metaphor of the failures under SR. Move on.

Firstly, I highly doubt this was some sort of Bond villain operation carried out entirely alone. Maybe he sent the messages, but I would be amazed if this wasn’t more widespread internally, or at the very least something senior people turned a blind eye to. Who exactly was signing off the expenses? These analysts weren’t funding trips out of their own pockets and I somehow doubt Tonda was popping to Tesco to withdraw cash for covert surveillance operations. Anyway, I digress. Where is this same outrage and these calls for bans when it comes to Chelsea’s hierarchy or Leicester’s top brass for cooking the books? That is outright financial cheating. The reality is that much of the anger here stems from the fact this cost us a playoff place - and I completely understand that anger - but some people are acting as though Tonda personally murdered the club’s integrity forever. And honestly, there’s a scenario where the club could position this differently. They could say: he was wrong, we accept the punishment, lessons have been learned, but we’re not going to completely destroy a man’s career because he was overly competitive and pushed things too far. There’s also quite a lot of revisionism going on now. Some people seem to be enjoying climbing onto the moral high ground after the event. It’s simultaneously entertaining and exhausting. I’m obviously playing devil’s advocate to an extent, but I do think there needs to be a bit more realism and perspective around all of this. It’s football. Everyone needs to calm down slightly and let things play out over time rather than treating this like the crime of the century.