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The Spygate Saga

St Chalet

By St Chalet
in The Saints

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Fabrice29

Fabrice29

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

The point I and others are trying to make is that it is a stupid rule and that to throw a club out of a competition for breaching a stupid rule is completely disproportionate to the offence. 

This isn’t the point you were making a few days ago in fairness. 

On 30/05/2026 at 00:20, sadoldgit said:. You haven’t heard what the accused have to say yet you have decided that they are guilty already. 

 

Lord Duckhunter

Lord Duckhunter

Posted
Posted

The IOC didn’t think it was a “stupid rule” when they docked the Canadians 6 points at the Paris olympics.

The Canadian FA didn’t think it was a “stupid rule” when they banned the coach.

I don’t recall too many people asking why the EFL imposed this “stupid rule” after Leeds got caught. 

Most supporters from other sides I’ve met, think we were treated harshly, but not one has called it a “stupid rule” and thinks teams should be able to spy on one another at will. 

It only seems to have become a “stupid rule” since we were caught breaking it. Had it been Portsmouth, I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be many calling it a “stupid rule” on here. 
 

The punishment is a debatable point, whether it’s a “stupid rule” isn’t. There has to be some sort of regulation, teams must be able to surprise opponents with formations, innovative set pieces and line ups. 
 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
Dman

Dman

Posted
Posted (edited)
52 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

 

So as expected then, the silence is because battles are still ongoing. Whether that is us defending ourselves from the wolves, or taking further action against the EFL for what we perceive to be a huge  injustice. 

It'd be good for one of the trusted ITK's to confirm if we need to start thinking about supporting Totton or not...

Edited by Dman
  • Haha 1
trousers

trousers

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, SaintLondon said:

... "in the ongoing fallout from Spygate."

Sounds ominious 

If I was a sub-editor looking for clicks, that's exactly how I'd have worded the headline too... ;)

Edited by trousers
  • Like 3
Saint Fan CaM

Saint Fan CaM

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Dman said:

So as expected then, the silence is because battles are still ongoing. Whether that is us defending ourselves from the wolves, or taking further action against the EFL for what we perceive to be a lack of justice. 

It'd be good for one of the trusted ITK's to confirm if we need to start thinking about supporting Totton or not...

As the EFL have taken action against the club already and the FA are concerned with individuals, I suspect it’s us going on the offensive but like you I’d be very interested to know for sure.

1 hour ago, SaintLondon said:

... "in the ongoing fallout from Spygate."

Sounds ominious 

That’s just media phraseology to make more of it than they actually know.

Edited by Saint Fan CaM
  • Like 2
Dman

Dman

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Compensation claim from the EFL I hope 

I can't see that happening unfortunatley. We admitted to breaking the rules, whilst I think many (inlcuing myself) feel like we've been hard done by with the excessive punishment, I can't see a world where we'd be able to sue them. 

  • Like 1
Midfield_General

Midfield_General

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, CSA96 said:

 

Interesting. 

As part of their instruction by Man City, Clifford Chance were the ones who brought in Lord Pannick to act as specialist/ lead defence barrister. So there is a close connection between Clifford Chance and Pannick, which may suggest he's staying involved with Saints case as well, beyond the previous appeal. 

Edited by Midfield_General
hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, Dman said:

I can't see that happening unfortunatley. We admitted to breaking the rules, whilst I think many (inlcuing myself) feel like we've been hard done by with the excessive punishment, I can't see a world where we'd be able to sue them. 

I'm not an expert but I still feel like we could conceivably make a fuss over the appeals process and the hurried nature of it.

  • Like 3
ItchenRob

ItchenRob

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Ken Tone said:

Clifford Chance are the top 'magic circle' firm  of solicitors.  And probably the most expensive! 

I had an interview with them around 1990. They actually asked back for a second interview. But I declined as I knew I would be so out of my depth in so many ways and I retreated into a far safer role with someone else.

Clifford Chance are the creme de la creme so will be very interesting to see what emerges.

  • Like 2
WinglessWonder

WinglessWonder

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, St. Ciervo said:

Would be fun to start doing this before all games.. but especially vs. Boro. Good luck training with 10 drones flying above you  ..|..

I'm in, any contributions to travel costs welcome and I'll donate the use of my DJI mini! 🤣

obelisk

obelisk

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, SaintLondon said:

... "in the ongoing fallout from Spygate."

Sounds ominious 

Only because the minor infraction of a bloke standing by a tree doing some scouting in public has been pushed into the -gate sphere for some reason. Is it really worse than the cheating that goes on during an actual match?

Dman

Dman

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, WinglessWonder said:

I'm in, any contributions to travel costs welcome and I'll donate the use of my DJI mini! 🤣

Set up a go-fund me. I'll more than happily contribute for you to do it a day or 2 before we play them, for no other reason than to be a shithouse

Extra few quid for you to upload it on youtube and send it to them on X.

  • Haha 2
Dman

Dman

Posted
Posted
Just now, Willo of Whiteley said:

Correct me if I’m misunderstood, but what is the point?

It’s done.

Take the loss and move on.

If we’re suing for damages we’ll pay almost the same in legal fees.

Well, this would suggest its not. 

Nolan

Nolan

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Dman said:

So as expected then, the silence is because battles are still ongoing. Whether that is us defending ourselves from the wolves, or taking further action against the EFL for what we perceive to be a huge  injustice. 

It'd be good for one of the trusted ITK's to confirm if we need to start thinking about supporting Totton or not...

HR, Sponsorship are just two legal minefields for the club at the moment. 

its a good thing that the club are finally doing everything to themselves. 

rallyboy

rallyboy

Posted
Posted

That's enough of the Premier League and the Champions' League final, let's find some more shit on Saints to fill in time before the World Cup.

It's old news and 95% of football doesn't give a fuck.

 

  • Like 2
CSA96

CSA96

Posted
Posted

If that's a selection of the worst of the messages then I really don't think they're that damning

  • Like 5
The Wyvern

The Wyvern

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, rallyboy said:

That's enough of the Premier League and the Champions' League final, let's find some more shit on Saints to fill in time before the World Cup.

It's old news and 95% of football doesn't give a fuck.

 

Agreed, unless there’s more to come out, that’s not much of a bombshell is it. 

CSA96

CSA96

Posted
Posted

Presumably the full report is due out imminently and that's why the media have got hold of some of it already... 5pm perhaps?

Saint NL

Saint NL

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Sounds like Tonda wasn't actually instructing the guys doing the scouting.

That's my take from it, there's definitely a middle man. It actually sounds more favourable to Tonda imo

The Wyvern

The Wyvern

Posted
Posted

Are all these quotes from Whatsapp from Jason Taylor? Read like they were written knowing he was going to flag up these messages at a later date. 

Weston Super Saint

Weston Super Saint

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, SNSUN said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/club-statement-1st-june-2026?fbclid=IwdGRjcASKi4ZjbGNrBIqLgGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqItAHPO5kFwP49pnJmTZoS1qGfsm5plscTuy0lNWaPcroqDakpNwJhFgQKG_aem_aaE7tQrMxUONY7z6LVV4Iw

Can someone translate this waffle into stupid person speak please? 😁

"It's the club's fault, whatever you do don't ban Tonda".

 

James

James

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, SNSUN said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/club-statement-1st-june-2026?fbclid=IwdGRjcASKi4ZjbGNrBIqLgGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqItAHPO5kFwP49pnJmTZoS1qGfsm5plscTuy0lNWaPcroqDakpNwJhFgQKG_aem_aaE7tQrMxUONY7z6LVV4Iw

Can someone translate this waffle into stupid person speak please? 😁

Essentially, we accept that the Panel was entitled to make the finding that it did but we don’t accept that interpretation was the only interpretation and we are concerned about the process and independence of the Panel given 2 of the members had links to Middlesborough. 

James

James

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, The Wyvern said:

Are all these quotes from Whatsapp from Jason Taylor? Read like they were written knowing he was going to flag up these messages at a later date. 

I assume they are from Will Salt given some of them were sent post-Boro?

  • Like 1
Saint NL

Saint NL

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/club-statement-1st-june-2026?fbclid=IwdGRjcASKi4ZjbGNrBIqLgGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqItAHPO5kFwP49pnJmTZoS1qGfsm5plscTuy0lNWaPcroqDakpNwJhFgQKG_aem_aaE7tQrMxUONY7z6LVV4Iw

Can someone translate this waffle into stupid person speak please? 😁

Interesting.

"What is harder to accept is that similar scrutiny does not appear to have been applied to the composition of the disciplinary panel itself, given the apparent historic and indirect connections of two panel members to Middlesbrough."

And people said that was just a weird conspiracy theory.

 

"The club is also concerned by the weight placed on assertions that junior staff were pressurised into involvement, when some of the most serious allegations appear not to have been supported by direct evidence. "

Sounds like they're building a case that the hearing wasn't completely legit imo

  • Like 4
benjii

benjii

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/club-statement-1st-june-2026?fbclid=IwdGRjcASKi4ZjbGNrBIqLgGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqItAHPO5kFwP49pnJmTZoS1qGfsm5plscTuy0lNWaPcroqDakpNwJhFgQKG_aem_aaE7tQrMxUONY7z6LVV4Iw

Can someone translate this waffle into stupid person speak please? 😁

Our initial response was shit.

Panel had appearance of bias. [Why didn't we kick up a stink? See above.]

Some of the bullying appears to be hearsay.

We'll crack on with things.

 

All pretty wet and uninspiring. Like the response.

The Wyvern

The Wyvern

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, James said:

I assume they are from Will Salt given some of them were sent post-Boro?

Yeah, fair shout, reading it again I think there are two separate sources. Some of them to read as though prepared for future reference. Let’s see the whole doc for context. 

James

James

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, benjii said:

Our initial response was shit.

Panel had appearance of bias. [Why didn't we kick up a stink? See above.]

Some of the bullying appears to be hearsay.

We'll crack on with things.

 

All pretty wet and uninspiring. Like the response.

The statement raises fair criticisms of the process but, as you say, bit wet after the fact. If the Club were concerned about the independence of the Panel, they should have objected strongly at the time. We have statements from Panel members confirming no objection was raised so, if true, smacks again of not doing the job thoroughly enough the first time…

  • Like 1
Saint NL

Saint NL

Posted
Posted

"Despite this, we are happy with the way in which we admitted the charges and offered our full cooperation and honesty "

Parsons the big fucking blabber mouth 😂

James

James

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, The Wyvern said:

Yeah, fair shout, reading it again I think there are two separate sources. Some of them to read as though prepared for future reference. Let’s see the whole doc for context. 

It seems to me that is what the Club is alluding to in the statement, that the Panel drew a lot of conclusions from very limited evidence. 

  • Like 1
Ted Bates Statue

Ted Bates Statue

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, rallyboy said:

That's enough of the Premier League and the Champions' League final, let's find some more shit on Saints to fill in time before the World Cup.

It's old news and 95% of football doesn't give a fuck.

 

Good day to bury bad news by releasing our embarrassing Whatsapp messages, on the same day as HM Government publishing their own Whatsapps that are somehow more embarrassing than ours. Although if we're making parallels with political events, it's too bad even Russia managed to get sanctions lifted in the week we were hit with ours.

So many wet blanket comments online, but it's going to happen with a sensationalist media and a brigade of other teams' bitter supporters who don't realise we're all living in the "peace prize" cesspit era of football corruption. Crabs in a bucket mentality at its finest.

The Saints page on Reddit got mentioned the other day. One of the first comments in the wake of Hull's playoff final victory was, of all things, a Leeds supporter slating us, but when you clicked his profile you could see that one of his most recent comments elsewhere was that he would hypothetically cheat on his partner if offered significant money "like a shot". Most people on there are savvy enough to hide their post history but you get the idea, most of these internet idiots are virtue-signalling hypocrites who make the lunatics on here look normal. Their opinion should be taken with a very generous pinch of salt, if not ignored altogether.

If keeping Eckert upsets those sorts of people, that can only be a good thing.

 

  • Like 2
Saint86

Saint86

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Sounds like Tonda wasn't actually instructing the guys doing the scouting.

Yeah, very telling that they've now released the evidence and there still isn't any hard evidence of Eckert either instructing the scouting or of him bullying staff members.

  • Like 2
hippo

hippo

Posted
Posted

I assume this is just a statement countering the release of the report, mainly to appease sponsors. 

I would expect (although this is SR who are fucking awful at PR) a statement with more direction, directed towards the supporters, to come after we've had our initial briefings with these lawyers, and we know more about the future of some players/ our coaches. 

 

  • Like 1

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