sadoldgit

Worst case scenario yes, but the players are under contract and can’t just walk. There may be some who want to stay and go for it again next season too?

Did you watch the games? If we gained any advantage through Will Salt’s fudged attempt at espionage I’d love to know what it was.

Yep. Assuming that the club doesn’t implode we must be one of the favourites to go up next year. As grim as everything looks right now, we still have the potential to be a big hitter in this division. There is no reason we will not be an attractive proposition once the dust has settled.

Hadn’t thought about that! They should all do it, if only for shits and giggles. one of the many sickening things about this situation is that Middlesbrough get a second bite of the cherry after being beaten fair and square in the semi final. To get a golden ticket to the EPL (if they beat Hull) after losing in the competition to get there is just not right.

Maybe they have got wind that is is widespread and are using us as an example to stamp it out?

As we will find out next season when it all comes our way.

Don’t players just return to their home clubs at the end of a loan period? If we have an option to buy that happens after they return? Clutching at straws.

Yeah, maybe. I guess they will make their reasoning public at some time in the future.

By taking the nuclear option over something that has been seen as trivial by many very experienced people in football the EFL have made a rod for their own back. There could well be calls for explosion for all manner of indiscretions in future.

I do wonder how many times it occurred. If it really was only three times that makes the whole situation even more ridiculous.

Why not? New season, new start?

So we get a two point fine each for spying against rivals but chucked out of the play off final for a bloke appearing from behind a tree with an iPhone up to a quarter of a mile away from any possible action? So maybe a 6 point deduction (applicable in the EFL) would have been proportionate?

Fair comment, but they could have rescinded the 4 point ban on appeal given the actual expulsion.

It depends on how much they are invested in him as a boss. Sometimes things like this make people bond tighter. Mind you, it could be moot if the FA go after him as strongly as the EFL have gone after us or Tonda falls on his sword or is sacked.

I expect that it was more that he thought that the rule was no big deal as it doesn’t apply elsewhere and “everyone” is supposed to be at it.

“Gibbo?”

Whatever happens going forward, the club as a whole needs to take a breath and not make any knee jerk reactions/decisions. The important thing is not to let what is effectively an earthquake crush the life out of the club.

And yet we saw the FA Cup played out between to two clubs who are being investigated for cheating, one of which gets to keep its winnings. Your statement would be fine if it applied to every episode of cheating, yet we see, week in, week out, that cheats in football prosper.

I started supporting the Saints back in 1966 so this is my 60th year (coincidentally it is Mrs Sogs 60th birthday) and I was looking forward to something special (football wise 😉) at the end of this season. Professional football was a joy to watch when I started following the club. Over the years though big money (starting with SKY) has been ruining the game. Diving, widespread financial corruption, VAR, the stranglehold on the EPL by the “big” clubs, lack of loyalty to your club only to the biggest paycheck…the list goes on. And now this. Trump’s World Cup holds no interest for me but even our domestic football has become badly tainted. Not by “Spygate” but by the massive overreaction to it. Checking out the opposition, scouting, had been part of football for ever. Yes, we broke the rules and deserved to be punished. What has actually happened is that we have been hung out to dry for all of the biggest sins in football. The number of hugely respected names in football who have come out and said that this cheating of ours is no big deal says it all. When you spend most of your time arguing over finding scapegoats and who should be sacked, something has gone deeply wrong. Even without this much of the season is spent slagging off owners, managers, coaches, players, pundits, other fans etc. As with politics, everything now seems to be consumed by manufactured psychodramas. What a crock of shit it all is.

I think that this will go down as one of the greatest over reactions and miscarriages of justice in footballing history.

The modern equivalent of hung, drawn and quartered.

Not even removing the 4 point deduction is very harsh, it is liking kicking the living shit out of us and then spitting on the body as they walk away. Don’t they really think they punished us enough with the expulsion?

It doesn’t mean he is crap at his job though.

He has proved himself to be an excellent coach, that much is certain. He broke a stupid rule, so what? It doesn’t mean he isn’t any good. Despite everything, it is what happens on the pitch that is important and he proved himself up to it no matter what. i don’t know if it has been mentioned, but Thierry Henry has written a brilliant piece about this on X. I have to be honest, this is a difficult one. Spying on another team’s training is wrong. Full stop. It crosses a line, it undermines the trust that should exist between clubs, and I understand why Middlesbrough are furious and why the EFL felt they had to act strongly. Integrity matters in this game. At the same time, I find myself questioning whether expulsion from the play-offs is the right punishment. It feels… heavy. Almost like using a sledgehammer when a precise scalpel was needed. Let’s be clear: this wasn’t match-fixing or doping. It was analysts pushing boundaries for tactical information, something that, sadly, has happened in different forms across the game for years. Marcelo Bielsa did it openly at Derby and Leeds, admitted it, and people called him a genius, not a criminal. Drones, analysts in trees, whatever, in the modern game with data and marginal gains everywhere, clubs push boundaries. Southampton admitted it, yes, and they deserve punishment. A heavy fine, points deduction, maybe even a ban for the staff involved. But kicking the entire club out after they earned their place on the pitch? That punishes players, coaches, and fans who had nothing to do with one or two analysts doing something stupid. What troubles me most is the collateral damage. The players who battled through a tough Championship season after relegation, who went to extra time and scored that late goal to beat Middlesbrough on the pitch, they earned their place in the final through merit. Now that achievement is being erased because of actions taken by a small number of staff members. That feels disproportionate to me. A significant fine, a points deduction for next season, and sanctions against the individuals responsible, those would be strong, meaningful punishments that address the breach without nullifying an entire season’s competitive work. Sport has to balance two things: protecting fairness and recognising that human error and ambition sometimes lead people astray. If every rules breach in high-stakes moments leads to rewriting results, we risk turning the disciplinary process into something more powerful than the football itself. I’ve sat in dressing rooms where we prepared meticulously for opponents. Everyone does. The difference is getting caught. I hope Southampton appeal and that the final decision finds a better equilibrium. Middlesbrough deserve respect, they were wronged but the players of Southampton also deserve not to have their legitimate efforts wiped away. Football is emotional, passionate, and imperfect. The response to this should reflect wisdom as much as outrage. We need clearer rules going forward so incidents like this become rare, but we must be careful not to let one mistake destroy what was built legitimately on the grass.

This is the issue. The EFL have not set out the penalty if found guilty of this crime, just a range of sanctions that can be used. A panel then has to decide subjectively what punishment they think is suitable. We don’t think that our crimes warrant expulsion. Middlesbrough do. We all have our own thoughts. How do you decide what is a fair, reasonable and proportionate penalty? Whether we think the club have been doing it all season (how did that work out for Will Still?) is neither here nor there. We were charge with 3 breaches of the law. Just 3, across a whole season. I just don’t know how anyone can think this punishment is fair, reasonable and proportionate (apart from Gibbo and the Boro fans of course).