Saints Expelled from Playoffs

[Osvaldorama]

1 minute ago, Nolan said:

I am grasping at straws here, but the EFL are treating the play offs like a separate competition in places. But conjoining the league and the play-offs in others.

If the play offs are separate then the punishment specifically for this competition should only be with regards to Middlesbrough, and the other charges added on Sunday should not be a part of this judgment as they relate to a separate competition.

There is zero logic in how the EFL have behaved. 
 

But unfortunately there is also zero logic in how we have behaved. 

It also seems like there is zero skill in our legal team 

[Willo of Whiteley]

That Tonda Eckhart statue is a bit shit isn’t it.

Everyone quickly unlike the photo!

[Football Special]

1 minute ago, grezz said:

Nah don't ban them. They won the day and that's how it is. We cheated, we take the medicine on the chin and we wish them well in the final. We're Saints. We're better than petty bitterness.

No we fucking dont, hope their train derails on the way to Wembley 

[S-Clarke]

Be interesting what the players agents are being instructed to do in this situation, it's all rather unprecedented. 

We could have law suits left right and centre if we're not careful.

[Dr Who?]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

There is zero logic in how the EFL have behaved. 
 

But unfortunately there is also zero logic in how we have behaved. 

It also seems like there is zero skill in our legal team 

I think we chose to defend ourselves… that can be the only explanation 😂 

[badgerx16]

Just now, grezz said:

Nah don't ban them. They won the day and that's how it is. We cheated, we take the medicine on the chin and we wish them well in the final. We're Saints. We're better than petty bitterness.

Fuck that, COME ON YOU TIGERS !!!!

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

There is zero logic in how the EFL have behaved. 
 

But unfortunately there is also zero logic in how we have behaved. 

It also seems like there is zero skill in our legal team 

Sadly you're right, there is no logic on show anywhere which makes this all the more frustrating. Every angle equals incompetence. 

[sadoldgit]

12 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Ah well. 
 

Fuck it. Championship is more fun anyway. 

Absolutely! And no VAR either! 😎

[Cascadia Saint]

2 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

In all this I think Luke Ayling has put it best:

"I'm now d-d-d-delighted to be g-g-g-"

Yeah, shut up you prick.

Probably better ways to channel your anger than taking the piss out of someone’s disability, prick or not.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

Be interesting what the players agents are being instructed to do in this situation, it's all rather unprecedented. 

We could have law suits left right and centre if we're not careful.

I suspect not a great deal, we were in the final not the premier league. But, I can see many of the agents much busier from next weeks. Leo, THB, Jander, Charles will probably be gone (at least)

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Osvaldorama said:

There is zero logic in how the EFL have behaved. 
 

But unfortunately there is also zero logic in how we have behaved. 

It also seems like there is zero skill in our legal team 

On the cheap like everything else. I’m not an expert in the football industry but I’d have done a miles better job defending the club’s interests if they were a client. And tell Phil Parsons to concentrate on the buffet, preferably avoid the boardroom there at all.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

3 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

They didn't need a whistleblower — according to the Telegraph, Parsons just fessed up to Gibson on the spot in front of a room full of people before we'd even had the chance to get a legal team on board. 

Our CEO, ladies and gentlemen 

fuck me

Fuck a duck. If that's true Parsons has no common sense at all.

[Willo of Whiteley]

The players a begging up Tonda over the last couple of months.

Would you feel duped if you were a player or still loving him?

[spyinthesky]

I wonder if there is anything in our Sponsors deal which means that bringing their names into disrepute means contracts are cancelled and repayments have to be made?
Meantime absolute silence on the Saints website.

[Sheaf Saint]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

The club are just burying their head in the sand. Can't believe they haven't made some form of announcement to the fans.

They're just fucking trolling us. This is still up there on the news page.

[Bobsmith]

This club is seemingly incompetent from top to bottom. But the EFL is corrupt as anything, reinstating a team that lost is using a legal loophole to bypass footballing merit. The only fair outcome if we were removed was for hull be to automatically promoted. I may give up on watching football after this 

[beatlesaint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Be interesting what the players agents are being instructed to do in this situation, it's all rather unprecedented. 

We could have law suits left right and centre if we're not careful.

Not likely to get my 41.50 for last weeks semi final back then 🤣

[badgerx16]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

The club are just burying their head in the sand. Can't believe they haven't made some form of announcement to the fans.

Picture Spors as Father Jack from Father Ted....."We're so, so,sooory".

[Holmes_and_Watson]

26 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I’m amazed Dyson put up with him for so long. Naive isn’t the word. In my profession he’d be giving the game away in 5 seconds flat. Someone like him should never be anywhere near negotiating. He should at least have done the due diligence about Gibson and Morris. 

Gentlemanly, assuming  responsiblity and sportsmanlike from parsons in communication with a peer.

Like yourself, in my industry, he would never reach a position where he would be able to hold such a conversation.

Niave, irresponsible and legally reckless from parsons in communication with a litigious competitor.

[Cascadia Saint]

2 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

That Tonda Eckhart statue is a bit shit isn’t it.

Everyone quickly unlike the photo!

Nope, that pic was and is an epic monument! Let’s cling to any highlight at this point….

[Simo is back]

As if being embarrassed game after game in the Premier league last season the club go and top that with this shit show ! 

[sadoldgit]

1 minute ago, Dr Who? said:

I think we chose to defend ourselves… that can be the only explanation 😂 

Perhaps we sent Baz in to speak for us?

[sockeye]

Ruh roh

[SNSUN]

Just now, spyinthesky said:

I wonder if there is anything in our Sponsors deal which means that bringing their names into disrepute means contracts are cancelled and repayments have to be made?
Meantime absolute silence on the Saints website.

I'd guess the club haven't said anything yet because of the appeal. We'll hear from them tomorrow for sure. 

[SWLondon Saint]

2 minutes ago, grezz said:

Nah don't ban them. They won the day and that's how it is. We cheated, we take the medicine on the chin and we wish them well in the final. We're Saints. We're better than petty bitterness.

Trolling is trolling - I would have expected any Boro admins to ban any Saints fans from their forums too. Fact is neither set of fans won anything!

[rallyboy]

The club has fucked us over.

Then the EFL have fucked us over even more with the maddest sporting punishment ever - it's our own fault but there is no consistency in that process.

As for Boro, their blatant misinformation media campaign with their own man on the EFL board was appalling - a clusterfuck of a situation from everyone involved.

Apologies to Hull, but at least they get to play a bunch of players who blow out of their arses after ten minutes on a good day.

 

[Saint_clark]

4 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

That Tonda Eckhart statue is a bit shit isn’t it.

Everyone quickly unlike the photo!

 

[skintsaint]

Just now, Saint_clark said:

 

hahahahaha

[SotonianWill]

22 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Are we really going to be most furious with the one person that acted with any integrity? 

There's no integrity. The message comes off as extremely arrogant to say we'll pay the fine and have an enquiry. And he's the CEO of a club who have just cheated. The article goes on to say his actions only inflamed tensions. 

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Gentlemanly, assuming  responsiblity and sportsmanlike from parsons in communication with a peer.

Like yourself, in my industry, he would never reach a position where he would be able to hold such a conversation.

Niave, irresponsible and legally reckless from parsons in communication with a litigious competitor.

Naive as an Austrian tourist in Soho.

it wasn’t a great situation but he made it 10 times worse, Who above him thought that was a good strategy?

Ratner-like.

[Mr X]

So we are expected to believe that no one advised tonda that you can't spy on other clubs in the uk? 

[Midfield_General]

41 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Apparently Tonda didn't realise it was against the rules.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/05/19/spygate-scandal-english-football-southampton-middlesbrough/

 

Oh get to fuck Tonda

Of course he did. And if he didn't, he fucking should have done

And whatever, it's still no defence. He's the figurehead of a multi-million pound operation, he can't just say 'I didn't know' and expect it to wash

This gets more farcical and pathetic by the minute

An absolute clown car from top to bottom, again 

[Morse]

Tonda/Spores need to go for trying this stunt in the first place. Parsons needs to go for fucking admitting it. Incompetence.  

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, sockeye said:

Ruh roh

Grim.

[Harry_SFC]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Be interesting what the players agents are being instructed to do in this situation, it's all rather unprecedented. 

We could have law suits left right and centre if we're not careful.

The Athletic reporting that some players are looking into legal action against the club.

Edited 1 hour ago by Harry_SFC

[sadoldgit]

2 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I wonder if there is anything in our Sponsors deal which means that bringing their names into disrepute means contracts are cancelled and repayments have to be made?
Meantime absolute silence on the Saints website.

There is no such thing as bad publicity. Perhaps we should charge them a premium?

[Sarcoidevo]

12 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Saints playing ‘we didn’t know the rules card’ has screwed us up.

Once we knew we had been caught they should have got ruthless and put a plan together.
 

Parsons comments to Gibson had given them the chance to throw us under the bus and that is what they did. 200m up the shitter.

Parson you are a PRICK!

We must have the dumbest moronic Management / Lawyers alive .... how the fk they couldn't think their way out of this clusterfk is utterly mind boggling ..... no concrete evidence about spying on Oxford / Ipswich just hearsay ..... yet we just meekly admit to it 

We could have even downplayed the Middlesborough incident 

This is the weirdest dumbest sht ever ..... mind blown 

[skintsaint]

Just now, Mr X said:

So we are expected to believe that no one advised tonda that you can't spy on other clubs in the EFL? 

Amended.

[Hawkswood]

So did someone within the club grass us up ?

[Saint86]

9 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

The OS has still got our next match listed as being against Hull this Saturday. Not a single mention anywhere of today's events on the site or on SM.

Totally fucking unacceptable IMO.

Parsons in a nutshell 😅

[skintsaint]

Just now, Harry_SFC said:

The Athletic reporting that the players are looking into legal action.

I wonder if the Boro player who misses the WC due to the injury in 2nd leg could sue too. If hearing took place quicker it would have been avoided.

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, SotonianWill said:

There's no integrity. The message comes off as extremely arrogant to say we'll pay the fine and have an enquiry. And he's the CEO of a club who have just cheated. The article goes on to say his actions only inflamed tensions. 

Quite, it inflamed it much further and spread the firestorm wider into more parts of the media.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Hawkswood said:

So did someone within the club grass us up ?

I think it was worked out that a former employee, who was let go in late December, was the whistleblower.

Quite typically he was a former Boro employee before we got him too. You couldn't make it up, just a complete comedy sketch really.

[Harry_SFC]

1 minute ago, Sarcoidevo said:

We must have the dumbest moronic Management / Lawyers alive .... how the fk they couldn't think their way out of this clusterfk is utterly mind boggling ..... no concrete evidence about spying on Oxford / Ipswich just hearsay ..... yet we just meekly admit to it 

We could have even downplayed the Middlesborough incident 

This is the weirdest dumbest sht ever ..... mind blown 

There was text message evidence 

[Saint_lambden]

Has the vaccum cleaner salesman not fucked off yet? 

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Grim.

Yeah I want to know exactly how many people are involved in this. I still maintain it's possible the analyst team were acting on their own and presenting information without saying where they got it from, but it's a slim chance at this point.

[scumbag]

It's hard to muster up any kind of defence for a club that deems it necessary to spy on Oxford, but I guess we'll always be left to wonder whether if the orchestrated media shit show of the last few days hadn't happened, would the panel still have reached this decision?  I have my doubts, but its probably naive to have any faith in due process these days.

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I think it was worked out that a former employee, who was let go in late December, was the whistleblower.

Quite typically he was a former Boro employee before we got him too. You couldn't make it up, just a complete comedy sketch really.

That’s what NDAs are for.

[Cuddles]

Lets be honest, we knew they'd been at it. It's the disproportionate punishment that's upset us. And the smug KFC lot 😂

[LGTL]

4 minutes ago, sockeye said:

Ruh roh

Damning, and disgraceful. I don’t think any of us believed it went quite this deep.