SaintLondon

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.

If Dragan could persuade them and in the realms of possibilty - who would you go for as manager? I think for me, I don't think it was possible before the scandal and harder now but I think I would go all out to try and sell the 'project' to Thomas Frank. I've just seen that he's working for the BBC this summer during the W/C so probably otherwise engaged. I wouldn't be against Scott Parker or Corboran either.

I don't agree with an old hat like Warnock or Hodgson as DoF - I think there is happy medium between a hipster choice and those two. We need someone who is a bit more au fait with the modern game but not obsessed with 'marginal gains' and left field choices.

The reality is that none of us truly know who knew what, and when. We’re led to believe there are text messages from Tonda that prove he knew what was happening, but I keep coming back to that interview where he said he wished he could speak openly about things. Unless he was just being deliberately cryptic, it feels like a strange thing to say if you were the person orchestrating the whole operation yourself. Personally, I still think it’s more likely that Spors was heavily involved behind the scenes, but perhaps smart enough not to leave fingerprints all over it. Either way, there is an enormous mess to clear up now and I’m not entirely sure where I’d even begin if I were tasked with rebuilding things. That said, part of me does think there could actually be some value, from a PR and trust perspective, in Tonda and the players coming out together in a unified way to acknowledge what’s happened and try to rebuild the relationship with the fans. Now I know some people will immediately say “why would the players do that?” and there have been briefings suggesting they knew nothing about it, but if spying really was as widespread and embedded as we’re now being led to believe, I’m not sure I completely buy that narrative either. The other part of me thinks it may ultimately come down to what the dressing room actually wants. If the players still believe they can work with him, trust him, and continue where they left off, then maybe - as mad as it sounds right now - there is an argument for keeping him. We’re almost certainly heading into next season with a weaker squad than this year’s and we need to give ourselves the best possible chance of stabilising and competing. For what it’s worth, and whilst I’m still absolutely seething about all of this, ultimately I just want the club to move forward in the best way possible. My instinct is still that he has to go - if not purely from a football perspective then certainly from a PR and trust one - but I suppose I’m just trying to think through all the possible realities from here.

Friend at club. Unfortunately I think I'll be proved right by what happens over the summer.

Problem with this is that aside from Swindon they all had money to rebuild and from what I hear the pot is empty.

Thanks for the camaraderie today chaps. I'll see you when I see you.

And that's that.

Best of luck with it all - wishing you a speedy recovery.

I think some of you are missing the point a bit here - we *have* to assume that we go up for the fine to be the tune of £200m. If we don't then it absolutely removes the point of proportionality. I agree he probably should have referenced Hull and perhaps spent a little less time sounding sorry for himself, but equally he was clearly trying to get a few key points across quickly. Do I love the statement? No. Is it better than complete silence? Absolutely. As for reinstatement, I just can’t see it happening now. But whilst we can’t appeal the outcome of the appeal itself, I would be very surprised if this doesn’t eventually evolve into a separate legal action against the EFL for loss of earnings. That feels like a very realistic next step from here.

You'd hope he's left out the legal mumbo jumbo for the silks and just tried to be as plain as possible for the masses.

Me.