Saints Charged With Spying on Mboro Training

[S-Clarke]

25 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

They’re a weird bunch who are convincing themselves we are getting kicked out of the playoffs. 
 

They’re getting frantic now that they’ve blown the first leg. 
 

 

I've never really given a shit about Middlesbrough to be honest, they've always just been 'there' and pretty nondescript - but it turns out they have a bunch of seriously special fans. A really, really weird bunch.

[coalman]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/09/spygate-playoff-row-championship-southampton-middlesbrough-hellberg-eckert

At a certain point you've got to think that this becomes more of a distraction for Boro than for us. How do you say "we don't think we can beat Southampton in the next game" without saying "we don't think we can beat Southampton in the next game"?

Edited 3 hours ago by coalman

[Mboto Gorge]

My god some of the stuff on the Boro pages is unbelievable. They are desperate to use this to get a free pass to the play off final…my favourite below;-

 

Southampton FC cheating has let down the world football community. Severe sanctions will be imposed to make an example of you. Relegation and a 30 points deduction, a multi £million fine, your Chairman Manager and staff who were in on the spying and turned a closed eye to banned from football for 20 years.

 

🤣🤣🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Mboto Gorge]

I’ve never known anything like it on their fan pages. They want any punishment that results in them being given a free pass to the final, because they know they are up against it now. Embarrassing hysterical fan base if ever I’ve seen one. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[S-Clarke]

9 minutes ago, coalman said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/09/spygate-playoff-row-championship-southampton-middlesbrough-hellberg-eckert

At a certain point you've got to think that this becomes more of a distraction for Boro than for us.

Personally I think it's backfired on them, I'm not denying this spy gate shit happened and it's a pretty big own goal from us in that sense. It gave them an opportunity to create an 'edge' and unsettle us, but I think they overplayed on it and tried to make much more of it than it was to try and give them an edge on the day IMO - rile up the fans, build the atmosphere, create a siege mentality. It almost happened first half.

That first half was probably as good as they've played all season, and as bad as we've played all season - the likelihood of both those scenarios playing out again on Tuesday isn't impossible, but quite slim I'd say.

The overriding feeling is that we were dumb enough to give them some ammunition, they tried to milk it and play on it, but didn't quite manage to execute it on the pitch. The whining from their fans and the manager after the game is making them look more panicked and desperate than anything else right now.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I've never really given a shit about Middlesbrough to be honest, they've always just been 'there' and pretty nondescript - but it turns out they have a bunch of seriously special fans. A really, really weird bunch.

Nobody in the North East does and Yorkshire isn’t fussed about them.

Newcastle and Sunderland are only interested in each other, Leeds focus on Man U in the PL and Sheff Utd/Weds in the Champ. Hartlepool and Darlington do their thing.

Tried to buy their way into the big time 1990s - Juninho was very decent, Ravanelli decent but expensive, but Emerson having seen him live was the most half-arsed overseas player during that period or any period. And we’ve had our fair share of those!

Vanished since then until we sent them down at home under Puel. 

[RedArmy]

Just now, Mboto Gorge said:

I’ve never known anything like it on their fan pages. They want any punishment that results in them being being a free pass to the final, because they know they are up against it now. Embarrassing hysterical fan base if ever I’ve seen one. 

They’ve had nowhere to direct their anger at over finishing 5th in a 2 horse race and now they’ve got something they’ve let it all out in the most mongy way I’ve ever seen. 

[Mboto Gorge]

3 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

They’ve had nowhere to direct their anger at over finishing 5th in a 2 horse race and now they’ve got something they’ve let it all out in the most mongy way I’ve ever seen. 

They honestly think the only fair outcome is we are removed from the play offs and they get to move forward to the final. The other punishment they’re all clamouring for en masse, is that they’re awarded a walkover 3-0 win for today’s game. Some of them genuinely believe this will happen before the 2nd leg. Anything that prevents them getting smashed on Tuesday, it seems. Absolute gimps to the level I’ve never seen from A fanbase before 

Edited 3 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[Farmer Saint]

I think we're being a bit harsh here - you shouldn't judge a fan base based on opinions on a forum. If we did that based on posts on this forum we'd be seen as a bunch of cunts.

If you're on a forum, you tend to be a fanatic and by extension, a bit special. Stereotyping and criticising a football club cos one or two fans are special is a bit ridiculous.

We were in the wrong. We'll get a hefty fine. They'll get over it. 

As said earlier, there is no way that the tactics that were being prepared would have been used today, so no advantage was gained by us.

[RedArmy]

Just now, Mboto Gorge said:

They honestly think the only fair outcome is we are removed from the play offs and they get to move forward to the final. The other punishment they’re all clamouring for en masse, is that they’re awarded a walkover 3-0 win for today’s game. Some of them genuinely believe this will happen before the 2nd leg. 

Block21 on their forum is a complete and utter fanny who has lost his marbles over this. 
 

Some other knuckle dragger taking about whether they can take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if we only get fined. 
 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, RedArmy said:

Block21 on their forum is a complete and utter fanny who has lost his marbles over this. 
 

Some other knuckle dragger taking about whether they can take it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if we only get fined. 
 

Imagine that on the CAS desk. Right next to the huge pile of Manchester City charges sits a much more serious lone charge for Southampton, because we sent a kid onto a public hill with an IPhone camera.

Feels a legit outcome.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Imagine that on the CAS desk. Right next to the huge pile of Manchester City charges sits a much more serious lone charge for Southampton, because we sent a kid onto a public hill with an IPhone camera.

Feels a legit outcome.

It’s strange how major incidents seem to stem from activity on grassy knolls…

😂

[Mboto Gorge]

Yeah, “They won’t get away with this under Gibbo’s watch. Gibbo will go all the way with this”. 
Fuck me, is he Pablo Escobar or something ?

 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Yeah, “They won’t get away with this under Gibbo’s watch. Gibbo will go all the way with this”. 
Fuck me, is he Pablo Escobar or something ?

 

ICI produce some dangerous chemicals, could be another Salisbury incident. Dragan plays a round at Stoneham, gets unwell suddenly clutching a contaminated driver…..

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[23rdSaint]

I just hope we get a verified account of what actually happened. Someone standing in a public space trying to see Hayden Hackney train is different from the believed narrative that the club giving £100K+ surveillance equipment to an intern to hide in a bush and record Hellberg's conversations... 

[goodymatt]

Clip of Tonda walking out of the post game presser before Deeney calls for us to be kicked out of the playoffs.

[Toussaint]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

And that's the problem with unsubstantiated allegations such as these. There has been a lot of jumping to conclusions and assumptions of guilt.

Some chap is spotted standing on a hill, some say hiding in bushes, some say with professional eavesdropping and spying equipment, some say with a phone and earphones.  This chap refuses to give his name or say what he is doing there, as he us entitled to do. Somehow the assumption is that he must be acting for Southampton FC, probably even an employee. And erm... that's it.

I see, we should take are £billion fine and 50 point deduction with good grace on the basis of hear say!

[AlexLaw76]

16 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Imagine that on the CAS desk. Right next to the huge pile of Manchester City charges sits a much more serious lone charge for Southampton, because we sent a kid onto a public hill with an IPhone camera.

Feels a legit outcome.

imagine the mess if we are, bizarrely, kicked out of the playoffs

[Toussaint]

8 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

I just hope we get a verified account of what actually happened. Someone standing in a public space trying to see Hayden Hackney train is different from the believed narrative that the club giving £100K+ surveillance equipment to an intern to hide in a bush and record Hellberg's conversations... 

I heard drones, satellites, AWACS and a submarine were involved. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

imagine the mess if we are, bizarrely, kicked out of the playoffs

It’ll be a very large fine, say £1.5m and tbh it probably should be. Legally banning a team from the play-offs given the Leeds precedent would be a legal hornet’s nest for the EFL. No advantage was gained, but it was an idiot thing to do. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[RedArmy]

1 minute ago, Gloucester Saint said:

It’ll be a very large fine, say £1.5m and tbh it probably should be. Legally banning a team from the play-offs given the Leeds precedent would be a legal hornet’s nest for the EFL. No advantage was gained, but it was an idiot thing to do. 

I think it’s more the furore from Wrexham who will argue that they should have replaced us. 
 

The legal ramifications of us being kicked out make it even more unlikely than it already was for anyone outside of the mentalists in Middlesbrough. 

[Gloucester Saint]

9 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Clip of Tonda walking out of the post game presser before Deeney calls for us to be kicked out of the playoffs.

Troy Deeney is notorious for being as thick as pig’s shit (and we know our farms here) in Gloucestershire for his diabolical spell as FGR’s manager, sending them spiralling out of the EFL. Even for Dale Vince, that was a mental appointment to make to hire someone who can’t string a sentence together.

[CB Fry]

Troy Deeney would know about battering people as this cunt went to prison for kicking someone in the head.

Spare us the holier than thou routine you violent criminal utter cunt.

 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Troy Deeney would know about battering people as this cunt went to prison for kicking someone in the head.

Spare us the holier than thou routine you violent criminal utter cunt.

 

Look at his record as FGR manager as well 😂😂

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Deeney

You can take the thug out of Chelmsley Wood but you can’t take the Chelmsley Wood out of the imprisoned thug.

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[saintstowin]

I think we'll just have to put up with pundits who thrive on the vibe of the game is sacred and let's hammer someone who may have ruined it. Even though it's tainted most weeks and exists on imbalance. There's so much air to fill we will hear all kinds of bizarre opinions.

It's our fault we have to withstand all the rubbish, sadly.

The Middlesbrough noise post match about them setting up so differently every game and therefore this affects them so deeply (because we may have seen ahead of time their latest amazing unique plan) is very odd, and I get a sense their anger isn't doing them any favours as they prepare for the 2nd leg.

[AlexLaw76]

I get it, we probably messed up.

some of these pundits getting riled about it would thought nothing about diving all over the show in their playing days

i see the story has shifted from some lad on his phone (who was asked to delete the recordings), to full on surveillance kit that Mi5 would have been proud off

Edited 2 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

I get it, we probably messed up.

some of these pundits getting riled about it would though nothing about diving al over the show in their playing days

In Deeney’s case it was a bit worse than that. He, his scummy brother and other scrotes broke a student’s jaw on a night out https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18584603

[Verbal]

1 minute ago, saintstowin said:

The Middlesbrough noise post match about them setting up so differently every game and therefore this affects them so deeply (because we may have seen ahead of time their latest amazing unique plan) is very odd.

That argument, which Hellboy himself resorted to, is real look-at-me-I'm-a-genius stuff - and only really relevant if you're interested in studying how previously he brilliantly moved Boro out of the autos down to 5th. 

[beatlesaint]

5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I get it, we probably messed up.

some of these pundits getting riled about it would though nothing about diving al over the show in their playing days

Don’t look at Darren Huckerby on Twitter then, he’s another fkin knob

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, beatlesaint said:

Don’t look at Darren Huckerby on Twitter then, he’s another fkin knob

And I bet he never dived, purposely handballed or tried to get a player sent off

[31cc]

37 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

I just hope we get a verified account of what actually happened. Someone standing in a public space trying to see Hayden Hackney train is different from the believed narrative that the club giving £100K+ surveillance equipment to an intern to hide in a bush and record Hellberg's conversations... 

[Fabrice29]

48 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

As said earlier, there is no way that the tactics that were being prepared would have been used today, so no advantage was gained by us.

I don't think "you had to change your tactics so we didn't get an advantage" is the defence you think it is. If they had a plan and were forced to change it then they have obviously been disadvantaged and I would be shocked if thats the case that isn't one of there main complaints.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

And I bet he never dived, purposely handballed or tried to get a player sent off

He did, I assure you.

Such a great dad, Darren is, in a great place to moralise. Someone who can be bothered should respond with this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-52923241

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/25447649.darren-huckerbys-son-court-drink-driving-mcdonalds/

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/ex-aston-villa-stars-son-32439083

[Bakovnetski]

Deene is a tool 

[Stud mark of doom]

Given how badly the first half went, surely we have a good case that the spying was to help us in the home leg, and so outside the 72 hour restriction? 
 

🙂 

[SNSUN]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

‘Looking for badgers’ 🦡 

We have the perfect Smiley for that.

Use your smileys wisely people, you'll miss them once the EFL take all our assets.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

35 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

I don't think "you had to change your tactics so we didn't get an advantage" is the defence you think it is. If they had a plan and were forced to change it then they have obviously been disadvantaged and I would be shocked if thats the case that isn't one of there main complaints.

I doubt they would be saying they were disadvantaged if they had won the game. If anything, if they did change their plans it probably made them a better team.

[Toadhall Saint]

18 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

Deene is a tool 

Agreed but not the sharpest.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, The Wyvern said:

From their forum thread on welcoming the coaches 🤣 

“I was in Southampton visiting extended family. When this started, a couple of them leaned over to me and said '**** me, I wish we had support like that, today is gonna be hard'.

Never have I beamed so much for my peeps in a small town in Europe.”

Definitely filed in that big folder of things that never happened. 

That’ll be in the 2026 “Did not happen of the year” awards.

Anyone on Twitter will get that 😂

[Fabrice29]

2 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I doubt they would be saying they were disadvantaged if they had won the game. If anything, if they did change their plans it probably made them a better team.

They'd have every right to be as equally as pissed off if Conway had smashed the ball in from 12 yards rather than at Bree. 

Bizarre to me anyone is trying to argue the performance and result matter in that sense. I also find it slightly bizarre there's a belief that Boro have blown it today based on it being a home leg given their away form recently has been stronger than their home. 

No idea whats happened and no real belief that the tactics were the main reason for anything happening in todays game but if you've argued all season tactics matter in terms of our performances then you cant be coming on here playing down another team potentially having to change theirs because of our illegitimate actions.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think we're being a bit harsh here - you shouldn't judge a fan base based on opinions on a forum. If we did that based on posts on this forum we'd be seen as a bunch of cunts.

If you're on a forum, you tend to be a fanatic and by extension, a bit special. Stereotyping and criticising a football club cos one or two fans are special is a bit ridiculous.

We were in the wrong. We'll get a hefty fine. They'll get over it. 

As said earlier, there is no way that the tactics that were being prepared would have been used today, so no advantage was gained by us.

That's not what their manager says. He claims they have never played the system they used today so the spying meant we knew what to expect. Based on how they batterered us without scoring in the first half this seems a little far fetched - it seems more likely they played a different system and completely caught us out. This infers that we received no information from the alleged 'spy' because we made no tactical change ahead of the game to combat their new system. 

There's a lot to this spygate story that just doesn't add up, make any sense or ring true. I'm hoping our club know they've done nothing wrong and are keeping their powder dry for as long as they think necessary. Maybe I'm clutching at straws but I just haven't heard or seen enough definitive evidence that paints us into a corner.

If we are guilty and have no defence then it's a monumental cock up by the club and we cannot gripe too much if the punishment is severe. In this circumstance the club will have a major job to excuse their actions to the fanbase.

[Dark Munster]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

That's not what their manager says. He claims they have never played the system they used today so the spying meant we knew what to expect. Based on how they batterered us without scoring in the first half this seems a little far fetched - it seems more likely they played a different system and completely caught us out. This infers that we received no information from the alleged 'spy' because we made no tactical change ahead of the game to combat their new system. 

There's a lot to this spygate story that just doesn't add up, make any sense or ring true. I'm hoping our club know they've done nothing wrong and are keeping their powder dry for as long as they think necessary. Maybe I'm clutching at straws but I just haven't heard or seen enough definitive evidence that paints us into a corner.

If we are guilty and have no defence then it's a monumental cock up by the club and we cannot gripe too much if the punishment is severe. In this circumstance the club will have a major job to excuse their actions to the fanbase.

Why should the punishment be severe? It was a kid on a public hill with an iPhone FFS. If he’d been kitted out with some high tech electronics, hiding in bushes on their property, then maybe. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Dark Munster said:

Why should the punishment be severe? It was a kid on a public hill with an iPhone FFS. If he’d been kitted out with some high tech electronics, hiding in bushes on their property, then maybe. 

That is now being reported (the last bit)

[Fabrice29]

5 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Why should the punishment be severe? It was a kid on a public hill with an iPhone FFS. If he’d been kitted out with some high tech electronics, hiding in bushes on their property, then maybe. 

Was it? 

[23rdSaint]

21 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Was it? 

Was it not?

[James]

People like Troy Deeney are irrelevant. Those who commit violent crimes don’t get to have morals when it suits them. The fact he still gets air time is embarrassing. 

[Badger]

2 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

It’s strange how major incidents seem to stem from activity on grassy knolls…

😂

And this one will probably still be being talked about in 60 years as well. Hopefully only on Teesside 

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

1 minute ago, James said:

People like Troy Deeney are irrelevant. Those who commit violent crimes don’t get to have morals when it suits them. The fact he still gets air time is embarrassing. 

Yep, unbelievable he gets to spout this shit after serving prison time for kicking a person in the head.

[Badger]

2 minutes ago, James said:

People like Troy Deeney are irrelevant. Those who commit violent crimes don’t get to have morals when it suits them. The fact he still gets air time is embarrassing. 

Like Carragher shouldn’t be allowed on a public platform.
 

It does seem Deeney’s involvement is largely born out of tokenism, but surely there are less offensive individuals to meet the criteria without his record. 

[beatlesaint]

I bet that Bournemouth full back who’s been messaging under age girls is grateful we’ve taken the heat off him the past few days.