Saints Expelled from Playoffs

[Window Cleaner]

8 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

I support two teams, Saints and England. Both have (had?) German managers. This week Tonda has had the whole Spygate thing, and Tuchel is naming an England squad with Jordan Henderson in it in the year 2026.

Can we sue the EU for blatant acts of sabotage?

The UK isn't in the EU. In fact I suppose that the two german managers have some sort of salary based work permit nowadays, so perhaps we can sue the government about that.

[trousers]

7 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

If this was all about finding out if Hayden Hackney was fit enough to play then it's pretty fuckin pathetic. 

Yep, as we guessed at the time. Pretty obvious that's what we were up there for. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

27 minutes ago, Ralph Fastenbüttl said:

How any of y'all can read that document come away thinking, "dear me, corruption is rife!" and not "fuck me, Saints are a fucking disgrace" is beyond me.

This mess is of our fucking making, not Boro's or anyone else's. The sad truth is that Tonda's regime was rotten at the core.

Spot on.

[Osvaldorama]

2 minutes ago, vectraman said:

 

Southampton's Eckert authorised spying, panel says

 

IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, 

Eckert admitted authorising the spying on rival teams

• Published
  1 hour ago

Southampton's spying on rival clubs was authorised by head coach Tonda Eckert and was a "contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage", an independent disciplinary panel says.

The panel also criticised the club's "deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff" to "conduct the clandestine observation".

Saints were expelled from the Championship play-offs after admitting observing opponents' training sessions and have been deducted four points in the Championship next season.

Written reasons explaining the panel's finding have now been published by the English Football League.

Eckert "accepted that he had specifically authorised the observations", which had "seriously violated" the integrity of the competition, the panel said when explaining why it had applied such a serious sanction.

In addition to the expulsion and point penalty punishments, a reprimand was also imposed on Southampton.

This was not just because other teams had been spied on, but "because of the way in which junior members of staff were put under pressure to carry out activities which they felt were morally wrong", the panel stated.

The whole matter only arose after a junior member of staff was spotted secretly watching Middlesbrough at their training ground.

• Spygate: Who is Tonda Eckert and can he keep his job?

   

  • Published
    15 minutes ago

Southampton admitted spying on three rivals' training sessions – Oxford United and Ipswich Town earlier in the season, and then Middlesbrough before the first leg of the play-off semi-finals.

Their expulsion from the play-offs meant Middlesbrough - who they beat in the semi-final – were reinstated. They will meet Hull City in Saturday's final, for a place in the Premier League.

Southampton were unsuccessful in an appeal against the decision.

In the club's initial response to the EFL, Southampton said the conduct was not part of the culture at St Mary's and that no video was captured, transmitted, shared or analysed. Southampton subsequently acknowledged this was inaccurate, said the panel, which stated the reality was that "the opposite was the case".

'A contrived and determined plan'

The first determination is perhaps the most damning. It indicated a pattern of behaviour.

The independent disciplinary commission said: "We have concluded that there was, on the part of the respondent [Southampton], a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage in competitions of real significance by deliberate attendance at opposition training grounds for the purpose of obtaining tactical and selection information.

"It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations at the direction of senior personnel.

"There was transmission and internal dissemination and analysis of footage and observations."

Southampton made submissions which they said proved the information had not altered the team selection, nor had it resulted in sporting advantage, shown by the poor first-half performance at Middlesbrough. This was rejected.

Eckert 'specifically authorised' the spying

The most damning section for the Southampton head coach was in the second determination of the judgement.

This said the German not only knew about the spying, but also had given his blessing.

Eckert was shown to have approved spying on Oxford to discover their formation after they had just changed manager.

In the case of Middlesbrough, he wanted to find out about the availability of a certain player - presumably Hayden Hackney, who had been out injured for several weeks.

The commission said: "Mr Eckert accepted that he had specifically authorised the observations to obtain information about formation (in the Oxford incident) and about the availability of a key player (in the Middlesbrough incident).

"Such information could only be sought in order to factor it into strategy, [and] whether the information confirms a strategy, is disregarded as unreliable or leads to a change of strategy does not, in our view alter the wrong which is committed when such information is sought.

"It is inherent in having information which your opponent would wish to keep private that you have a sporting advantage."

Absolutely ridiculous. 
 

Fucking bunch of idiots. The more that comes out the worse it gets. 

State of this lot running our club. 

[leesaint88]

Just now, trousers said:

Yep, as we guessed at the time. Pretty obvious that's what we were up there for. 

Also why he was watching the top pitches. That’s normally where Middlesbrough warm up before moving further on down to the 1st team training pitch for the detailed stuff.

[Harry_SFC]

I remember @Turkish saying on the Middlesbrough build up thread "who gives a fuck whether Hayden Hackney plays or not" 

Sadly it seems the club did!!

[S-Clarke]

Is your name Will? You seem to know a bit about Boro's pitches  

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

And all this talk of a ‘whistleblower.

That’s who it was. The Boro and Saints ex employee tipped us off.

We were set up somewhat, but we walked right into this mess. Then made a complete cock up of our defence. 

the person who broke that story is a journo in the north east, so it’s not an X rumour. 

So a set up, walked into a trap, fell for it, then smirking Phil tried to smooth it all over with Gibson at the game, assuming we'd just get a fine. What a catalogue of stupidity and incompetence 

[Crab Lungs]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

i was one of those, i thought it was because we had some ace up our sleeve and weren't speaking out because it was all a load of bollocks and we could prove it. How wrong i was. 

It’s all performative from these charlatans. This pretend stoic silence. Truth is, they’re not leaders - they just shrivel when any pressure is applied.

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

So a set up, walked into a trap, fell for it, then smirking Phil tried to smooth it all over with Gibson at the game, assuming we'd just get a fine. What a catalogue of stupidity and incompetence 

As I've said all along (give me a medal FFS!), the reality was always likely to be more unbelievable than some of the 'bonkers' conspiracy theories...

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

So a set up, walked into a trap, fell for it, then smirking Phil tried to smooth it all over with Gibson at the game, assuming we'd just get a fine. What a catalogue of stupidity and incompetence 

Yep absolutley, so angry at everyone for this. I know some people are saying Boro are the innocent party in all of this, but they've played this just how they planned. The 'whistle-blower' has given Boro some goss long before we spied, they have thought ok....try and set him up, see if he bites, then we can get him caught and setup a coordinated media onslaught so we can gain an advantage in the playoffs. We were just too stupid to see it.

We shouldn't have been doing it anyway, and I think we've been doing it for a long time, but the way Boro have gone about this is very dirty.

For footballs sake, Hull need to win.

Edited 1 hour ago by S-Clarke

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

As I've said all along (give me a medal FFS!), the reality was always likely to be more unbelievable than some of the 'bonkers' conspiracy theories...

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Also why he was watching the top pitches. That’s normally where Middlesbrough warm up before moving further on down to the 1st team training pitch for the detailed stuff.

I'm guessing he didn't get as far as watching the first team before he fell into Boro's trap ... Oops Sorry... Before he was "caught"...  but it's the intent that counts, not what he actually ended up seeing, of course...

[Saint NL]

So when Tonda said he had stuff to say but couldn't say it, the words he was going to say were "I didn't know".

 

Really

[scumbag]

The EFL submitted that a severe sporting sanction was appropriate, and that consideration should be given to expulsion of SFC from the EFL Championship Play-Offs along with financial penalties and points deductions.

Lol, I bet they (boro) did!  But still let both legs go ahead.

[Turkish]

On 15/05/2026 at 09:29, Turkish said:

Obviously a conspiracy theory but is it beyond the realms of possibiity that this happens

Disgruntled ex employee contacts Salt, a naive intern wanting to help his team. Tells him that there is a place you can see MIddlesborough training where no one will spot you not entering any private ground. Naively Salt thinks his old mate is helping him out. When actually he tips off 'Boro whats been planned then reports him to the club as a way of getting back at Saints. If you were going to stitch someone up you'd go for the most junior person wouldn't you, not anyone higher up who'd probably be more savy.

The picture is interesting for me, it's from the other side of the pitches from the security office where Sky said they guards came running from and was taken before that, someone knew he was there.

It sounds like something you used to get on Dream Team but truth is stranger than fiction these days. There are a few things that dont add up here.

 

3 minutes ago, trousers said:

As I've said all along (give me a medal FFS!), the reality was always likely to be more unbelievable than some of the 'bonkers' conspiracy theories...

Looks like these conspiracy theories were bang on.......

CoT is right again.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, scumbag said:

The EFL submitted that a severe sporting sanction was appropriate, and that consideration should be given to expulsion of SFC from the EFL Championship Play-Offs along with financial penalties and points deductions.

Lol, I bet they (boro) did!  But still let both legs go ahead.

Let's not forget that Middlesborough explicitly asked for that EXACT sanction on their own website, before it was even announced.

A Statement From The Club

[trousers]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Yep absolutley, so angry at everyone for this. I know some people are saying Boro are the innocent party in all of this, but they've played this just how they planned. The 'whistle-blower' has given Boro some goss long before we spied, they have thought ok....try and set him up, see if he bites, then we can get him caught and setup a coordinated media onslaught so we can gain an advantage in the playoffs. We were just too stupid to see it.

We shouldn't have been doing it anyway, and I think we've been doing it for a long time, but the way Boro have gone about this is very dirty.

For footballs sake, Hull need to win.

Even though we were wrong to do what we did, I'm still finding it slightly odd that the EFL seemingly don't have a dim view on how Boro seemingly engaged in entrapment. Just because we did wrong, doesn't absolve Boro of doing 'wrong' too, does it...? 

[leesaint88]

Just now, trousers said:

I'm guessing he didn't get as far as watching the first team before he fell into Boro's trap ... Oops Sorry... Before he was "caught"...  but it's the intent that counts, not what he actually ended up seeing, of course...

Maybe. But I think it’s been pretty much proven to get a decent view of the 1st team pitch he’d have to be in the woods opposite, outside of the golf club and training complex. Maybe that’s why the soldier memes were on the clubs WhatsApp! 

[westmidlandsaint]

A bit like THB statement of his binoculars incident that "he didn't realize the severity" it feels like neither did Parsons with out defense. Almost feels like he thought it would just be a slap on the wrist

[AlexLaw76]

Lets be straight, we have, in all probability, been at this for ages and against way more than the 3 teams admitted to.

As Turkish said, why a team with vastly more money, resources and better players than about 20 other sides, noting Leicester were shite this time, needed to do this.

Were we not confident the coaching set up, led by a 33 year old and Ben Garner, not up to it fully? Seems that way, and we got hooked on it.

As said a few times, Tonda's excuse of not knowing is pure tripe. He was the assistant manager at Barnsley over 2 seasons AFTER the Bielsa incident. Whilst he was at Barnsley, they enjoyed their best spell in years - *makes you think*

 

[bpsaint]

39 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

I wonder what Adam 'Villan' Blackmore would make of these trails of corruption and intrigue? Reckon he'd get off his high horse and do some investigative journalism? Nah, nae chance.

I’m not on twitter but perhaps someone can ask him about the Boro connections on the EFL board that put the proposed punishment forward, and the former player on the “IDC”. That kind of thing needs to get out into the open.

[Gloucester Saint]

With what’s emerged tonight in terms of the sheer jaw dropping lack of corporate governance and oversight, the FA and EFL ought to be reviewing whether SR is capable of owning SFC as a going concern.

There’s serious red flags here around being fit and proper, not least their appalling judgement in senior hiring which have travelled well beyond bad results.

If I were them, I’d insist on a senior consultant who would sit on both the SFC and SR boards. Someone like Roy Hodgson to keep an eye on SR for the first 12 months to get the club cleaned up and assess FAPP compliance. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, trousers said:

Even though we were wrong to do what we did, I'm still finding it slightly odd that the EFL seemingly don't have a dim view on how Boro seemingly engaged in entrapment. Just because we did wrong, doesn't absolve Boro of doing 'wrong' too, does it...? 

I'm coming out of this even more angry at the EFL to be honest, we've been done over like a kipper here - for what? 

A decent defence could have pushed that, why didn't our intern - who was talking, apparently - claim he was setup? Why wasn't he pushed to present that? It's clear that's what's happened to me, but no one seems to have pushed this angle.

But to be 100% clear....what we did isn't right, but equally Boro's tactics here are equally as bad in my view. Neither of us should be in the playoff final.

[Crab Lungs]

Ultimately, it’s on us. We’ve been doing it and the besmirched ex employee stitched us up, knowing we couldn’t resist.

for anyone who might think it was coincidental:

- ex employee tips off analyst about the lack of security around their training 

- we don’t get nearly 30 mins in and he’s ‘spotted’ from the main building 

- club photographer on hand to take a closeup of Salt

- boro security sneak around out of sight of the spy and try to seize him by surprise

- boro just happen to be working on certain particulars which they later claim they felt enforced to change because we had spied

- Gibbo and NE journos go into overdrive 

- boro man on board of EFL, board propose expulsion.

- ex employee also highlights Ipswich and Oxford to boro - who report it (remember the reports saying boro suspect they’ve been spying on other teams - how the fuck would boro know specifics like that!?), we come clean 4 days later about it. Salt confirms when giving evidence 

Edited 1 hour ago by Crab Lungs

[Turkish]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I'm coming out of this even more angry at the EFL to be honest, we've been done over like a kipper here - for what? 

A decent defence could have pushed that, why didn't our intern - who was talking, apparently - claim he was setup? Why wasn't he pushed to present that? It's clear that's what's happened to me, but no one seems to have pushed this angle.

But to be 100% clear....what we did isn't right, but equally Boro's tactics here are equally as bad in my view. Neither of us should be in the playoff final.

According to the reports Salts phone was checked by the legal team, so if he was told about security it would have either been on his phone or email. If they didnt see it then they've missed a massive mitigation opportunity.

[benjii]

1 minute ago, Crab Lungs said:

Ultimately, it’s on us. We’ve been doing it and the besmirched ex employee stitched us up, knowing we couldn’t resist.

for anyone who might think it was coincidental:

- ex employee tips off analyst about the lack of security around their training 

- we don’t get nearly 30 mins in and he’s ‘spotted’ for the main building 

- club photographer on hand to take a closeup of Salt

- boro security sneak around out of sight of the spy and try to seize him by surprise

- boro just happen to be working on certain particulars which they later claim they felt enforced to change because we had spied

- Gibbo and NE journos go into overdrive 

And they happen to somehow have evidence we spied on Oxford on that very same day.

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Ultimately, it’s on us. We’ve been doing it and the besmirched ex employee stitched us up, knowing we couldn’t resist.

for anyone who might think it was coincidental:

- ex employee tips off analyst about the lack of security around their training 

- we don’t get nearly 30 mins in and he’s ‘spotted’ for the main building 

- club photographer on hand to take a closeup of Salt

- boro security sneak around out of sight of the spy and try to seize him by surprise

- boro just happen to be working on certain particulars which they later claim they felt enforced to change because we had spied

- Gibbo and NE journos go into overdrive 

Bang on, thats exactly what happened and we walked right into it.

[Window Cleaner]

16 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep, as we guessed at the time. Pretty obvious that's what we were up there for. 

Apparently Salt was supposed to go back again the following day, or so say the WhatsApp messages quoted somewhere or other.

[Crab Lungs]

1 minute ago, benjii said:

And they happen to somehow have evidence we spied on Oxford on that very same day.

Yeah, just have to read the NE grotrags - ‘Boro suspect they’ve been spying on other teams as well’ 

I mean…. Unless they’re tipped off with our movements, and why would they not care to report it during the season if it was the for integrity of football, like they said?

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Bang on, thats exactly what happened and we walked right into it.

Naive as an Austrian tourist in Soho. What morons. Solak is not fit to be in charge of running a bath.🛀 

[Osvaldorama]

2 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Yeah, just have to read the NE grotrags - ‘Boro suspect they’ve been spying on other teams as well’ 

I mean…. Unless they’re tipped off with our movements, and why would they not care to report it during the season if it was the for integrity of football, like they said?

Yep. 
 

Kept it in their pockets, set the trap and got to the final because the EFL contains a load of their cronies. 

Insane lol. How stupid are to let this happen. Can’t believe it. 

[die Mannyschaft]

19 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Absolutely ridiculous. 
 

Fucking bunch of idiots. The more that comes out the worse it gets. 

State of this lot running our club. 

Who are the Saints staff referred to as Top to Botton? They all need identifying and sacked.

[Stud mark of doom]

To me, it now seems much more difficult to object to our punishment. We have been a disgrace - seriously considering not renewing my season ticket, in what would be my 40th consecutive year. 
 

What stands out as truly objectionable is Boro being put through to the final after losing fair and square (for once we can be sure there definitely was no effective spying on them!). The outcome should have been for Hull (who are now at a considerable disadvantage) to go straight up. 
 

Will be cheering Hull on - and if they don’t go up I hope they sue. The fact that Boro had planned this all along may well be relevant for that case. 

Edited 57 minutes ago by Stud mark of doom

[SouSaint]

Sums up what an amateur club we've become under these terrible owners. 

No doubt there are more dark days ahead under these clowns. 

[Harry_SFC]

From January. Taylor replaced after just 3 months, having worked for Boro previously.

[Thripp87]

My sole gripe having read that report is the EFL referring to sporting advantage. That’s what they have given Middlesbrough by reinstating them, at the expense of Hull who were preparing to play us. 
I think I would be at ease with our expulsion now if it just meant Hull had a walkover. We deserve it for putting out that defence.

How is Asterisk still on the books?

[Crab Lungs]

8 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Yeah, just have to read the NE grotrags - ‘Boro suspect they’ve been spying on other teams as well’ 

I mean…. Unless they’re tipped off with our movements, and why would they not care to report it during the season if it was the for integrity of football, like they said?

A lot of this nonsense is from The Sun … from the northeast journo Gary Stonehouse who broke the ‘lack of security’ suspicion and then somehow, 2 days later, says Middlesbrough have ‘new evidence’ 

and guess who gary works for? The Sun

Edited 55 minutes ago by Crab Lungs

[Harry_SFC]

"very clear how we prepare" 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

8 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Ultimately, it’s on us. We’ve been doing it and the besmirched ex employee stitched us up, knowing we couldn’t resist.

for anyone who might think it was coincidental:

- ex employee tips off analyst about the lack of security around their training 

- we don’t get nearly 30 mins in and he’s ‘spotted’ for the main building 

- club photographer on hand to take a closeup of Salt

- boro security sneak around out of sight of the spy and try to seize him by surprise

- boro just happen to be working on certain particulars which they later claim they felt enforced to change because we had spied

- Gibbo and NE journos go into overdrive 

But shouldn't our club make sure the whole football world know what Middlesbrough did? Add to that a dubious panel and this is more that being stitched up. This is surely grounds for a civil case. 

If I were Dragan, I'd be phoning Man City and ask to borrow some of their lawyers. Literally hundreds of millions could be at stake. 

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, SouSaint said:

Sums up what an amateur club we've become under these terrible owners. 

No doubt there are more dark days ahead under these clowns. 

Time for the EFL and FA to actually do their jobs now and think about whether SR are the fit and proper outfit the PL passed in 2021/22. There are huge question marks over that. 

[Thripp87]

26 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep, as we guessed at the time. Pretty obvious that's what we were up there for. 

And the very next day they announced it anyway themselves, remember thinking it was odd they shared that so blatantly at the time. 

[RedArmy]

2 minutes ago, Thripp87 said:

And the very next day they announced it anyway themselves, remember thinking it was odd they shared that so blatantly at the time. 

Nah they didn’t announce that until the Monday 

[Crab Lungs]

Just now, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

But shouldn't our club make sure the whole football world know what Middlesbrough did? Add to that a dubious panel and this is more that being stitched up. This is surely grounds for a civil case. 

If I were Dragan, I'd be phoning Man City and ask to borrow some of their lawyers. Literally hundreds of millions could be at stake. 

The moment Parsons slithered over to Gibson and admitted it in front of EFL members at the Riverside we were fucked.

We potentially could however fuck them up down the line if my summary and suspicions are correct.

Wed have to have some compelling evidence, as heightened as my suspicions are they are only that 😂

you can see the dots joining together though…

[Ldnsaint]

3 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

But shouldn't our club make sure the whole football world know what Middlesbrough did? Add to that a dubious panel and this is more that being stitched up. This is surely grounds for a civil case. 

If I were Dragan, I'd be phoning Man City and ask to borrow some of their lawyers. Literally hundreds of millions could be at stake. 

It doesn't change that we cheated multiple times 

[bpsaint]

3 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

But shouldn't our club make sure the whole football world know what Middlesbrough did? Add to that a dubious panel and this is more that being stitched up. This is surely grounds for a civil case. 

If I were Dragan, I'd be phoning Man City and ask to borrow some of their lawyers. Literally hundreds of millions could be at stake. 

That stupid prick doesn’t know his arsehole from his elbow. He must be the worlds most inept billionaire.

[Crab Lungs]

Fuck it, for those conspiracists who like a deep dive, I might do a timeline and piece it altogether properly, with reports, names etc…

[AlexLaw76]

No point blaming Boro, we cheated, and admitted to cheating multiple times. We have probably been cheating a lot since xmas (during a very impressive unbeaten run).

[tdmickey3]

We were as amateur as it gets.

We were set up

And sentenced in the media any by Boro representative and ex Boro player on so called independent commission and this part stinks to high heaven 

 

[tdmickey3]

2 minutes ago, Ldnsaint said:

It doesn't change that we cheated multiple times 

True but excessively punished