Saints Expelled from Playoffs

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

It'll go before an entirely new panel of three legal experts

With no connection to the company that the original panel worked for? 

[tdmickey3]

Still nothing on SFC website...

[Leighsterrr]

20 minutes ago, trousers said:

Bollocks.... Just come out of a work meeting and now I'm a further 4 pages behind... FFS!

I've cried off all work meetings today...more pressing matters was my claim...its worked so far!

[skintsaint]

19 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

How can the same seats be sold twice, legally?

Will be nice and cozy..

[LegalEagle]

I think we should sack Tonda and his team involved in this today. We can then try and use that as an argument at the appeal that we’re taking this seriously. A long shot but it shows some commitment by the club to stamping this out. Get rid of them by 2pm today.

[beatlesaint]

3 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

Why on earth are people talking about tickets being sold twice? Ours will be cancelled and refunded you mentalists.

Not until after the outcome of the apeal they wont. People are just pointing out that for a period of time you will actually have 2 sets of tickets for 1 game having been sold. I dont understand why they aren't waiting until the apperal outcome. In normal circumstances this match would have been postponed and pushed back to a later date, which, appears to have been earmarked as next Thursday evening. 

[EssEffCee]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

The refunding of fans will be fun, especially if they try to withhold the booking fee .

"The refund will take 5 days to be credited to your account, please wait until then before contacting us"

EFL website says booking fees included in refund.

Though interestingly doesn't state that your team not participating is a valid reason for refund 👀

[Willo of Whiteley]

2 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Still nothing on SFC website...

It’ll probably be broken in the news later the points have been reduced and that’ll be it.

The club are still fucking useless they won’t acknowledge anything for days.

Be quicker to walk across the continent than have any form of communication with the club.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

54 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

The EFL playing a blinder here. 

The final will take place, between two clubs at a time we don't know. 

Buy your tickets now 🤣

Just wait for the reaction when Hull play suprise guest stars, Bayer Leverkusen. 🙂

[saintant]

54 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

That is a fair angle to take, for sure, looking at other sanctions it doesn't seem proportionate. The 'play offs' being seen as a cup competition, rather than a league extension, has muddied it all and confused the EFL/commission I think. But also, look at it this way - we know of 3, and those 3 games weren't in our favour.

What if we did this against Wrexham beforehand and ditto Charlton, and got our wins on the back of that? It brings the long winning runs into question, it simply has to. You can't say you've done it 3 times, but only use the examples where it hasn't benefited us as a defence. 

At this point I think it's clear we've done this across multiple games which have swung in our favour. Who I currently feel sorry for more in all of this are the fans of Wrexham, Millwall, Derby and Hull. Seemingly none of those have got a fair shot if the severity of what we've done, and the relentlessness of it, comes to light.

On the outset it seems a small misdemeanour, but you have to feel there is a lot more to it. The EFL have handled it terribly though.

But I go back to the fans in all of this - we're the ones being punished as part of all this, the full force of this should be felt by the individuals who have done it. We've done nothing, neither have Hull or Millwall or Wrexham or Derby. We're all being punished.

I prefer to take the opinion of good ex pros like Rickie Lambert and Danny Murphy who say nothing would be gained by spying on an opponent's training session. Those guys would know.

Not saying we haven't done wrong but this spying is not the reason we've had a long unbeaten run. Included in that was stellar performances against Arsenal and Fulham who I'm sure have secure training grounds.

It's a bugger and we'll have to take the consequences but not convinced any of it impacted on the results of the games where any spying took place eg we spied on Oxford and produced one of the worst performances of the season, we didn't spy on Arsenal and were superb.

[tdmickey3]

Former Saints boss Harry Redknapp describes his old club's spying as 'stupid beyond belief' but says their expulsion from the play-off final is 'very harsh'

Always like harry 😉

[EssEffCee]

2 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Not until after the outcome of the apeal they wont. People are just pointing out that for a period of time you will actually have 2 sets of tickets for 1 game having been sold. I dont understand why they aren't waiting until the apperal outcome. In normal circumstances this match would have been postponed and pushed back to a later date, which, appears to have been earmarked as next Thursday evening. 

Yeah but that doesn't matter in practical terms at all. 

[Sarnia Cherie]

4 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Two days ago, I for one thought AlexLaw and Lord Duckhunter on this thread were overreacting to the whole situation and scaremongering when they said we could get kicked out.

The problem is, if someone in the club doesn't get a grip of this very quickly, it could spiral out of control - I can certainly see sponsors pulling out, players leaving, and that's just the short term.

 

Would you blame them? Why would they want to be linked with a club who broke 2 EFL rules and are now having the nerve to appeal after admitting their guilt and in more instances than the Middlesborough issue. I thought I had experienced all the human emotions over my 55 years as a supporter, but I was wrong. The one I never felt through all the ups, downs, relegations, promotions, administration, you name it was shame. I am feeling that now with bells on. I want to know, as does every supporter, the full honest facts on this whole shambles. Who encouraged spying on other clubs?  Who knew and were seemingly prepared to go along with it? Who carried it out? On last night's news it was suggested that the FA could get involved and charge those directly responsible. When they showed clips of Salt it highlighted what an amateurish fiasco this was. One 'spy' allegedly wore an Eastleigh shirt as a master criminal disguise on one spying campaign. We are a laughing stock but worse, we are cheats. I hope everyone responsible for dragging Saints through the mud gets their comeuppance. If Rasmus is thinking of another book he could use the title 'An Idiot's Guide to missing out on £200m'

[Saint Scott]

Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker have both argued that #SaintsFC's removal from the Championship play-off final was unduly severe, suggesting a hefty fine would have been a far more fitting penalty.

[Eire Saint]

15 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

A fair view from a Boro fan - doesn't feel they should be rewarded, just give it to Hull. I don't say I disagree, it would probably feel a bit odd for Hull - but they got there fair and square by beating a strong Millwall side.

Hull/Wrexham/Derby/Millwall being punished whilst Boro rewarded. The legal quagmire this will open is going to be huge.

If Boro got some indication there could be a favourable outcome and pressed ahead with playing us anyway knowing they could lose and still progress they get a far greater advantage than any other team. They should postpone the final and have them play Milwall Saturday to see who gets to play Hull. No way a team deserves a Wembley final without winning a game in the playoffs. 

[Football Special]

Just seen this comment from a Hull fan about unknown opposition: 

"Why not add an element of surprise and intrigue by having Boro AND Southampton players in the tunnel then the EFL can do a heads or tails at 3.25pm to decide which team will emerge as our opponents." 

[Midfield_General]

19 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

I’m sorry but you and others keep pushing at this, what defence did you want him to put forward? They caught an employee in the bushes ffs 🤣

Yes, I realise that. 

But in some legal cases, even though people have done things they shouldn't have, they keep quiet and then hire lawyers who build cases to - gasp - try and make it seem better than it is in order to get the punishment reduced. 

They don't stride up to the specific person who has a £200m personal interest in prosecuting them and say 'Look, between you and me, we did it, but don't worry, we're handling it' in front of a room full of people, before their legal team has had the chance to lead on it, and then expect it to go well. 

There's a reason lawyers always instruct their clients to say 'no comment' to everything even when all the evidence overwhelmingly suggests they did it. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Midfield_General

[Saint_clark]

Just now, Football Special said:

Just seen this comment from a Hull fan about unknown opposition: 

"Why not add an element of surprise and intrigue by having Boro AND Southampton players in the tunnel then the EFL can do a heads or tails at 3.25pm to decide which team will emerge as our opponents." 

If I were another championship side I'd just turn up at Wembley at 2:30 and try my luck at getting a game.

[hypochondriac]

Oh dear. There's quite a lot of tying up in knots being done in this thread now trying to hold onto hope about loopholes and irregularities. They've pushed the nuclear button. It won't be reversed and we have to live with that and try to mitigate any damage. The sooner everyone on here gets their head around that the better.

[SNSUN]

33 minutes ago, trousers said:

Bollocks.... Just come out of a work meeting and now I'm a further 4 pages behind... FFS!

Ha me too - dealing with a signal systems failure on the Pic and having to actually work - now I'm playing catch up. And now I've posted this I have to go back to the part of the thread where I read your post and carry on from there.

Edited 1 hour ago by SNSUN

[Holmes_and_Watson]

43 minutes ago, trousers said:

All sponsors pull out, the club ends up in administration, then liquidation, and a phoenix club starts up again in the 7th tier?

There! Some light at the end of it all.

Support the Southampton Phoenixexes..um..Phoenicee... Southampton Big Birds (sponsored by @Lord Duckhunter

I was going to type "Up The Southampton Big Birds!" but it sounded very wrong.

[Dr Who?]

33 minutes ago, trousers said:

Bollocks.... Just come out of a work meeting and now I'm a further 4 pages behind... FFS!

FFS Saints! 

[hypochondriac]

Probably would have been a lot better off losing to Middlesbrough last week.

[Saint_clark]

Just now, Holmes_and_Watson said:

There! Some light at the end of it all.

Support the Southampton Phoenixexes..um..Phoenicee... Southampton Big Birds (sponsored by @Lord Duckhunter

I was going to type "Up The Southampton Big Birds!" but it sounded very wrong.

The Southampton Pidgeons. 

[SNSUN]

17 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

Why on earth are people talking about tickets being sold twice? Ours will be cancelled and refunded you mentalists.

I wish I hadn't bought 2000 tickets in the Saints end to sell outside the ground now. Hard life for a tout.

[Dr Who?]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Oh dear. There's quite a lot of tying up in knots being done in this thread now trying to hold onto hope about loopholes and irregularities. They've pushed the nuclear button. It won't be reversed and we have to live with that and try to mitigate any damage. The sooner everyone on here gets their head around that the better.

Yeah we are done for the final for sure. We might get the points back but in the scheme of things we are in a world of shite! 

[sotonjoe]

30 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Nah pretty sure they were all barristers weren't they?

I'm wondering if the people representing each side were barristers but the adjudicators are just professional adjudicators (whatever that means).

[Holmes_and_Watson]

41 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

I wonder at what stage everyone internally at the club realises they/ we're fucked and the blame game starts as they all start turning on each other in an attempt to save their own skins 

I'm going for tomorrow morning 

Dragan vs. Exec (Parsons) vs. Management team (Tonda and team) vs. Head of Analytics (whoever the fuck) vs. wee Will Salt the lone wolf in a blame game Battle Royale

Who will survive?  

Is my final ticket valid for this event? 

[LegalEagle]

Just now, sotonjoe said:

I'm wondering if the people representing each side were barristers but the adjudicators are just professional adjudicators (whatever that means).

The chairman was a KC and some others on their panel are lawyers or ex- lawyers

[O_Lord_Marian]

Its our year, we're getting reinstated.

[Pamplemousse]

6 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Just seen this comment from a Hull fan about unknown opposition: 

"Why not add an element of surprise and intrigue by having Boro AND Southampton players in the tunnel then the EFL can do a heads or tails at 3.25pm to decide which team will emerge as our opponents." 

Flynn Downes would be sent off immediately

[sotonjoe]

1 minute ago, LegalEagle said:

The chairman was a KC and some others on their panel are lawyers or ex- lawyers

I see .. where was that reported then? 

[Dr Who?]

Right drag myself to the gym and try and find some motivation for the hour and half! Then back to 25 pages of this! What a life! 

[BranfootsLoveChild]

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

[LegalEagle]

Just now, sotonjoe said:

I see .. where was that reported then? 

It wasn’t reported. The adjudicating panel were named and you can see on their website who sits on the panel. I have not seen anywhere who sat yesterday however and who is sitting as the appellate body today.

[RedArmy]

8 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Just seen this comment from a Hull fan about unknown opposition: 

"Why not add an element of surprise and intrigue by having Boro AND Southampton players in the tunnel then the EFL can do a heads or tails at 3.25pm to decide which team will emerge as our opponents." 

Could be like those secret sets at festivals where everyone is waiting for the banner to drop behind the stage. 
 

Hulls banner drops above their half of the pitch and everyone waits in suspense for the other to come down and then that team takes the pitch. 

[Saint_clark]

Just now, BranfootsLoveChild said:

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

I think the direction of the wind is changing today. It's all gonna come down to one senior legal expert reviewing the decision made yesterday and whether it was proportionate or not.

[EssEffCee]

1 minute ago, BranfootsLoveChild said:

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

Never going to happen.

[LegalEagle]

Just now, LegalEagle said:

It wasn’t reported. The adjudicating panel were named and you can see on their website who sits on the panel. I have not seen anywhere who sat yesterday however and who is sitting as the appellate body today.

This is the panel and their board members

https://www.sportresolutions.com/about/board-members

[saintant]

42 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Apparently according to Talk Sport (I know, I know), the hearing yesterday wasn't undertaken by legal people - just an independent football commissioning panel who plucked some footballing sanctions out of the air, with zero legal thought. So today's appeal will have legal people around the table for the first time.

Absolutely no idea how this ends.

Sounds less professional than our attempts at spying 🙂

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, BranfootsLoveChild said:

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

I'm not going to predict anything at this point, this has been so unprecedented we simply have no idea. Look at yesterday, we were still selling tickets at lunchtime - so you cannot predict any outcome at this stage.

My best guess is that it won't be overturned, but I didn't see them expelling us at that notice yesterday either.

Edited 1 hour ago by S-Clarke

[Holmes_and_Watson]

29 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Learn something new everyday..

Engineering hasn't changed in all that time. @Whitey Grandad read it in 1968. I read it in 2026, just after he typed "engineering."  Just the same. 🙂

 

This post was brought to you by the Give @trousers more posts to catch up on foundation.

[Sunglasses Ron]

12 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Just seen this comment from a Hull fan about unknown opposition: 

"Why not add an element of surprise and intrigue by having Boro AND Southampton players in the tunnel then the EFL can do a heads or tails at 3.25pm to decide which team will emerge as our opponents." 

Or do it like that event in Gladiators where a mystery one emerges out of some smoke at the last second. 😅 

[LegalEagle]

4 minutes ago, BranfootsLoveChild said:

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

There is a chance. Pretty slim but we’re still breathing. I never saw that coming yesterday. I thought the chances of us being kicked out were slim then. Can’t help but think if it had just been Boro then we wouldn’t have been kicked out. We’ve been way too honest here and not played the Man City game book.

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I think the direction of the wind is changing today. It's all gonna come down to one senior legal expert reviewing the decision made yesterday and whether it was proportionate or not.

What wind? We broke the rules repeatedly. It was systemic. Reportedly they have text evidence where we tell analysts to go and do it. The club paid for analysts to stay at hotels whilst we did it. We had images joking about it and we tried to disguise analysts so we wouldn't be caught. It's a clear and repeated breaching of the rules to try to cheat and gain an advantage. I don't see how they reduce the penalty to be honest although I don't think it's fair to have the appeal the next day even if I understand why they've done it.

[badgerx16]

6 minutes ago, BranfootsLoveChild said:

Do any of you guys think there is any chance of us being reinstated because I really don't think it will happen. Nice if it did, but just can't see it. 

Boro stsrt selling tickets at 1:00 pm, so no chance the EFL will reinstate us.

[Saint_clark]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

Boro stsrt selling tickets at 1:00 pm, so no chance the EFL will reinstate us.

We had sold out when they expelled us so that argument holds no weight at all. Besides it's not the EFL making the decision.

[LegalEagle]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

Boro stsrt selling tickets at 1:00 pm, so no chance the EFL will reinstate us.

That doesn’t seem to matter. They sold us 38,000 tickets

[sockeye]

Can we make it a Spurs Hull final instead? Spurs win they stay up. Hull win they take Spurs place 

[23rdSaint]

2 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Boro stsrt selling tickets at 1:00 pm, so no chance the EFL will reinstate us.

Then why release comms this morning that our game kicks off at 16:30 if we win our appeal?

Edited 1 hour ago by 23rdSaint
Grammar