Boro vs Saints - Saturday 12.30pm - 1st leg

[warsash saint]

I am going to be completely off grid tomorrow   Anyone know any sites where i will able to watch the game later in the evening??

[revolution saint]

No idea if it's true or not but spying on the opposition after a 46 game season seems a bit  unnecessary.  I guess we could get a glimpse into any new set pieces and fitness of Hackney but still don't think it would give us much of an advantage.

I don't pay much attention to 'Boro but they've never really struck me as a sensationalist, dirty tricks kind of club.  If you met 'Boro at a school reunion they'd be the one you had absolutely no recollection of. 

[trousers]

[trousers]

[Jack]

Really hope this is all a load of bollocks about nothing and the silence from the club is just to troll everyone. 

[saintant]

54 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Question i have how did they get a picture of our guy

I read they have CCTV. If so it would be easy to compare that to analyst photo on our official website.

[DT]

Spygate. What a stupid thing for the club to do. Chips away at the goodwill we have built and so unnecessary. Embarrassed to be associated to this spying business, to be honest, and hope the bad karma now doesn't bite us in the arse.

They'll be even more bang up for it now.

[saintant]

21 minutes ago, trousers said:

Bang to rights!

[23rdSaint]

Just had the pleasure of listening to Matterface, Crook and Birmingham's smartest talk about it on talkSPORT. Crook whinging that we're an unlikeable team at the best of times 😂

[Pamplemousse]

The reaction is hilarious. Middlesbrough fans have completely lost their heads over this.

Hopefully their players are equally as distracted

[saintant]

35 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Slightly surprised there has been no statement from the club. Even if its simply to deny all knowledge of this. Would love it if we accused boro of playing silly bollocks.

Would be bonkers to deny all knowledge unless the club know for a fact that it's a fabrication. If he's done it our best way out is to say he acted without club permission and sack him immediately. If he was spying he certainly needs to stick to his day job although he likely won't have one much longer.

 

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

Just had the pleasure of listening to Matterface, Crook and Birmingham's smartest talk about it on talkSPORT. Crook whinging that we're an unlikeable team at the best of times 😂

Pot, kettle and black spring to mind.

[saintant]

This smacks of a bumbling  Inspector Clouseau like character.

[Football Special]

5 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

The reaction is hilarious. Middlesbrough fans have completely lost their heads over this.

Hopefully their players are equally as distracted

[beatlesaint]

13 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

The reaction is hilarious. Middlesbrough fans have completely lost their heads over this.

Hopefully their players are equally as distracted

Not just fans. Their local journalists have lost all the brain cells they might have had. 

[Miltonaggro]

19 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

Just had the pleasure of listening to Matterface, Crook and Birmingham's smartest talk about it on talkSPORT. Crook whinging that we're an unlikeable team at the best of times 😂

[Mboto Gorge]

12 minutes ago, Football Special said:

What an absolute fucking clown. Laughable 

[Saint Pete]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Slightly surprised there has been no statement from the club. Even if its simply to deny all knowledge of this. Would love it if we accused boro of playing silly bollocks.

Likely a sign that it's true. They are probably focusing on how to defend it to the EFL. 

[bpsaint]

31 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

Just had the pleasure of listening to Matterface, Crook and Birmingham's smartest talk about it on talkSPORT. Crook whinging that we're an unlikeable team at the best of times 😂

Is that fat prick Crook still upset about constantly getting called out for being wrong on anything related to Saints back in the day?

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

14 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

Likely a sign that it's true. They are probably focusing on how to defend it to the EFL. 

I'd argue almost the exact opposite. Don't give it the time of day and move on.

[Convict Colony]

apparently we have 14 days to respond to the efl complaint so I expect no update or comments from anyone until we've played both games.

 

[trousers]

I find it almost impossible to believe that this would be club sanctioned activity. Who in their right mind at the club would think the considerable risk of being caught would outweight any benefits to be gained. Something not adding up here. 

[revolution saint]

One of the potential penalties they could impose on us is a loan embargo meaning we'd have to keep Damion Downs next season.  That seems excessively harsh to me.

Edited 3 hours ago by revolution saint

[Hussar Saint]

50 minutes ago, DT said:

Spygate. What a stupid thing for the club to do. Chips away at the goodwill we have built and so unnecessary. Embarrassed to be associated to this spying business, to be honest, and hope the bad karma now doesn't bite us in the arse.

They'll be even more bang up for it now.

You seems to have accepted that all this is true and not some kind of Boro' mind trick. Lets see how it pans out. As for Boro' well they shouldn't need this kind of thing to get them "Up for it" surely?

[beatlesaint]

1 minute ago, Hussar Saint said:

You seems to have accepted that all this is true and not some kind of Boro' mind trick. Lets see how it pans out. As for Boro' well they shouldn't need this kind of thing to get them "Up for it" surely?

Aah - but the defence from their fans is if its all made up why would the club submit a complaint to the EFL.......cos at no time ever has anyone made a formal complaint about something thats turns out not to be true have they ? 🤷‍♂️ 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Its all very odd and seems so incompetent that Saints would get caught.

[Willo of Whiteley]

55 minutes ago, DT said:

Spygate. What a stupid thing for the club to do. Chips away at the goodwill we have built and so unnecessary. Embarrassed to be associated to this spying business, to be honest, and hope the bad karma now doesn't bite us in the arse.

They'll be even more bang up for it now.

You’re literally licking your lips at the prospect of us being knocked out purely so you can have a little scream. 🤣

We’ll be absolutely fine. Score for our first set piece then the Boro fans will be outraged and rattled.

It’ll be hilarious. Be confident laddy!

[Saint86]

11 minutes ago, Hussar Saint said:

You seems to have accepted that all this is true and not some kind of Boro' mind trick. Lets see how it pans out. As for Boro' well they shouldn't need this kind of thing to get them "Up for it" surely?

I agree, makes absolutely no sense. Plus drones are used for everything these days, we certainly wouldn't send someone to hide in bushes with a shitty hand held camera and some binos ffs.

The furore that Boro have tried to create over this in public (whilst offering literally zero corroborating evidence alongside it) leads me to think its all just bollocks personally. They knew they were facing a flat atmosphere at a 12:30 kick off and that they're up against it vs Saints, and they're trying to get their crowd up for it and make it as hostile as possible, potentially unsettling us a bit and almost certainly meaning our players will have a very hostile arrival at the stadium (i would hope the club are prepared for that and will take measures to avoid it by arriving earlier etc).

Would love to see the club use it against boro publicly if that is the case, troll them back, draw attention to them fabricating claims to try and tarnish the club to get an advantage etc. Make a bit of a joke out of them.

The longer saints remain quiet implies we either don't know how to respond to it, or that its actually true - both of which would be disappointing. It would be pretty funny if they've spend all time time ranting at us for cheating if this then turned out to be fabricated by them and it was them "cheating".

Equally, this might just inspire a new level of intensity out of Tonda and the team - a prospect to relish and that Boro might well regret. 

Regardless, certainly added some drama and some rivalry with boro that will last for years i reckon.

Edited 3 hours ago by Saint86

[Toadhall Saint]

3 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Its all very odd and seems so incompetent that Saints would get caught.

Yep if we did it on weds we would have been ok given the 72 hours prior to the fixture rule.

[Hussar Saint]

4 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I agree, makes absolutely no sense. Plus drones are used for everything these days, we certainly wouldn't send someone to hide in bushes with a shitty hand held camera and some binos ffs.

The furore that Boro have tried to create over this in public (whilst offering literally zero corroborating evidence alongside it) leads me to think its all just bollocks personally. They know they've got a 12:30 kick off and are up against it vs Saints, and they're trying to get their crowd up for it and make it as hostile as possible, potentially unsettling us a bit and almost certainly meaning our players will have a very hostile arrival at the stadium (i would hope the club are prepared for that and will take measures to avoid it by arriving earlier etc).

Would love to see the club use it against boro publicly if that is the case, troll them back, draw attention to them fabricating claims to try and tarnish the club to get an advantage etc. Make a bit of a joke out of them.

The longer saints remain quiet implies we either don't know how to respond to it, or that its actually true - both of which would be dissapointing.

Absolutely nailed it Sir !! 🫡

Although I think our silence epitomises Saints under Tonda.....ignore outside noise, focus fully on the next game.

Edited 3 hours ago by Hussar Saint

[Saint86]

2 minutes ago, Hussar Saint said:

Although I think our silence epitomises Saints under Tonda.....ignore outside noise, focus fully on the next game.

Yeah, i can see this as well. But if it is fabricated i would like us to try and use it publicly against them. Don't like seeing the club's name tarnished, and it would probably deflate their fans somewhat.

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Yeah, i can see this as well. But if it is fabricated i would like us to try and use it publicly against them. Don't like seeing the club's name tarnished, and it would probably deflate their fans somewhat.

Reminds me of the mind games Swansea tried with the hotel booking in 2018.

It was actually the only time our players really got motivated for a game that season and backfire on the home team.

[Harry_SFC]

The more I think about it the more it seems fabricated. They know we are the form side and probably expected a flat atmosphere up there. It'll be interesting to see what happens. Either way if it does turn out to be true nothing will be done before either game. 

[Sheaf Saint]

17 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

The longer saints remain quiet implies we either don't know how to respond to it, or that its actually true - both of which would be disappointing. 

Or perhaps we're just taking our time getting all our ducks in a row before responding to what is a serious allegation.

I'd like to think that if it was true, then we would have considered the high likelihood of getting caught and had an oven-ready response already prepared.

Or perhaps we're just all overthinking this.

[Pilchards]

Hoping the fans our end rub it in to upset the locals.

’We are Southampton we spy on who we want.’

’Oh when the Spies go marching in.’

When Boro have a set piece ‘We know what you’re doing.’

 

 

[Wurzel]

Easy way out of this. The rule is no spying on the opposition less than 72 hours before kick off. Just make a statement we weren't spying on them before Saturday's game we were spying on them before next Tuesday's match

[Whitey Grandad]

48 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

apparently we have 14 days to respond to the efl complaint so I expect no update or comments from anyone until we've played both games.

 

By which time we will no longer be in the EFL.

[Saint86]

😆 - so basically no evidence, lots of "alleged" and hinges on the belief that their security staff know our coaching staff from grainy cctv footage and a nearly year out of date picture of (presumably) Albert Jones on the club... (i'm assuming we wouldn't have sent the GK coach or Tonda's two assistants up there). And Jones probably looks like half the other young lads at a championship training ground.

Also, that same security staff let this person in and let him take photos/videos 😅.

Doesn't sound fishy at all 😅

Edited 3 hours ago by Saint86

[Saint NL]

2 hours ago, trousers said:

It's hardly spying when you're facing the wrong way. Looks like they got a great view of the carpark

[goodymatt]

Spy story has worked, they’ve finally sold out.

[John Boy Saint]

19 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

😆 - so basically no evidence, lots of "alleged" and hinges on the belief that their security staff know our coaching staff from grainy cctv footage and a nearly year out of date picture of (presumably) Albert Jones on the club... (i'm assuming we wouldn't have sent the GK coach or Tonda's two assistants up there). And Jones probably looks like half the other young lads at a championship training ground.

Also, that same security staff let this person in and let him take photos/videos 😅.

Doesn't sound fishy at all 😅

"the man left and later went into an indoor area of the training complex, where the man then changed his appearance in some way before leaving the Middlesbrough training complex". 

Blimey sounds like an episode of Scooby Doo and them pesky kids!

Elsewhere he was on a Golf Course over looking the training ground filming and then went into a hotel, got changed, and left.  

All seems a bit fishy

[Sheaf Saint]

2 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

"the man left and later went into an indoor area of the training complex, where the man then changed his appearance in some way before leaving the Middlesbrough training complex". 

Blimey sounds like an episode of Scooby Doo and them pesky kids!

Elsewhere he was on a Golf Course over looking the training ground filming and then went into a hotel, got changed, and left.  

All seems a bit fishy

I think you might have cracked the case. Perhaps the guy was a deep cover Pompey agent, disguised as a Saints analyst, trying to derail our promotion hopes.

[DellBlockH]

35 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

😆 - so basically no evidence, lots of "alleged" and hinges on the belief that their security staff know our coaching staff from grainy cctv footage and a nearly year out of date picture of (presumably) Albert Jones on the club... (i'm assuming we wouldn't have sent the GK coach or Tonda's two assistants up there). And Jones probably looks like half the other young lads at a championship training ground.

Also, that same security staff let this person in and let him take photos/videos 😅.

Doesn't sound fishy at all 😅

I had thought it was worse than that. Last night I got the impression that Boro officials had got an admission from the camera person that he was from Southampton FC. But, no. They've confronted him. He's gone indoors and "changed his appearance". Presumably, he's taken off his Southampton tracksuit. Or maybe just put on a jumper for the drive back to wherever he came from. 

It may come out that he actually does work for Saints (which would be embarrassing and possibly financially costly for the club) or he may be some sort of freelancer hoping to pass intel on. Or he may be some random fan who gets his kicks from filming training sessions. We used to have one of those.

[DrSuess1979]

Ffs 

what a load of bollox, all stirred up to sell extra tickets.

 Standard sky sports, running with it, obviously a slow news day!!! 
 

 

[Willo of Whiteley]

33 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Spy story has worked, they’ve finally sold out.

Took them long enough 🤣

[Willo of Whiteley]

Plot twist - it was actually a Boro official dressed in Southampton tracksuit.

I bet if enough people start tweeting this it’ll be on Sky Sports News within the hour 🤣

[Whitey Grandad]

14 minutes ago, DellBlockH said:

I had thought it was worse than that. Last night I got the impression that Boro officials had got an admission from the camera person that he was from Southampton FC. But, no. They've confronted him. He's gone indoors and "changed his appearance". Presumably, he's taken off his Southampton tracksuit. Or maybe just put on a jumper for the drive back to wherever he came from. 

It may come out that he actually does work for Saints (which would be embarrassing and possibly financially costly for the club) or he may be some sort of freelancer hoping to pass intel on. Or he may be some random fan who gets his kicks from filming training sessions. We used to have one of those.

Is that the best they've got?

No actual evidence then. How disappointing. "Changed his appearance " could be anything. Are they even sure it was the same person? Which gender toilets did he/she use?

Taking photos/videos on a mobile phone? Any respectable spy would surely use one of these.

[Saint86]

At this point, I think I'd be genuinely embarrassed to be a Boro fan. They needed this "distraction" (fabricated incident) to get there support going (beyond tin pot), have only just sold out, and after banging on all holier than thou about sporting integrity and cheating, it looks very likely that they're the ones who have been trying it on.

All of which will likely fire up a certain hungry eyed and ferociously intense German coach who is going to rock up with this saints team more fired up than ever, and piss all over their play off dreams. Gonna be bloody hilarious when we dump them out after this 🤣😂. Not boro's smartest idea, but at least it helped them sell a few tickets.

Why do these clubs keep trying to pick these odd tin pot style fights with us, have they also got a mental chairman like Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea?

Edited 2 hours ago by Saint86

[warsash saint]

So you turn up to spy on Boro training in a Saints tracksuit ??!! 🤣  The whole thing is absolute bullshit to wind up the sleepy Boro fans into a so called frenzy!!

[Whitey Grandad]

Something's not right about this. The 'individual' didn't identify himself yet is somehow known to be on the staff of Southampton FC. The Daily Mail (now wash your hands please) say that he is and intern at our club in his early twenties. He is alleged to gave deleted photos and videos on his phone but nobody saw what they were. (Any serious spy would have uploaded them whilst they were live). He is alleged to have gone into a nearby hotel and is assumed to have changed his appearance because he wasn't seen coming out again. 

All very circumstantial and presumptive.

"A fat man did it and ran away"