The Spygate Saga

[Holmes_and_Watson]

42 minutes ago, Verbal said:

I'm proud too but I'll be as far away from one of those cruise ships as possible. Never know what you might catch. Instead I'll be cottaging in the Cotswolds. 

Until you're a pariah, with an unknown virus, in international waters, you've just not lived!

Oh, bon voyage @Whitey Grandad!

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Until you're a pariah, with an unknown virus, in international waters, you've just not lived!

Oh, bon voyage @Whitey Grandad!

Thanks. It's for my daughter and her family really. I'm only going along to carry the wallet. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks. It's for my daughter and her family really. I'm only going along to carry the wallet. 

Looking forward to seeing you on the news.

"Sure, no port will take us in, and no one wants us. But we're still more liked than Southampton after Spygate."

[Window Cleaner]

8 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks. It's for my daughter and her family really. I'm only going along to carry the wallet. 

Been there !

[Dman]

Did we ever get any extra info / context from @LeG

Edited Thursday at 06:58 by Dman

[Weston Super Saint]

1 minute ago, Dman said:

Did we ever get any extra info / context from @LeG

I think we have to wait until it's all over, then we get a summary of everything that's happened where he'll claim he knew it all, all along.

[Polaroid Saint]

BBC just trolling now. Lol.

'inside the mind of Bielsa'

The 70-year-old is one of the most respected and influential coaches in the game, and that reputation has been earned from his borderline obsessive dedication to preparation for every single match he oversees.

No mention of Leeds' own, original, Spygate, but instead:

"It's all about setting high standards that will stay with the club long after he has gone."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5ye2m00y5ro

[egg]

8 minutes ago, Dman said:

Did we ever get any extra info / context from @LeG

Not sure where it'll take us. What's done is done, and putting any further details into the public domain isn't likely to help the club, and depending on the information, it may well hinder. 

[tdmickey3]

11 hours ago, Verbal said:

I'm proud too but I'll be as far away from one of those cruise ships as possible. Never know what you might catch. Instead I'll be cottaging in the Cotswolds. 

😬

Really 🤮

[badgerx16]

37 minutes ago, Polaroid Saint said:

BBC just trolling now. Lol.

'inside the mind of Bielsa'

The 70-year-old is one of the most respected and influential coaches in the game, and that reputation has been earned from his borderline obsessive dedication to preparation for every single match he oversees.

No mention of Leeds' own, original, Spygate, but instead:

"It's all about setting high standards that will stay with the club long after he has gone."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5ye2m00y5ro

From the comments : "Is the BBC that issues this ode to Bielsa the same BBC that invites all and sundry to kick the Southampton manager every other day?"

[BERMUDASAINT]

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/alan-pardew-reacts-dragan-solaks-backing-southampton-boss-tonda-eckert/

Ex Saints manager with his "strange views", he is someone who has always liked a  bit of "strange".....ask Fonte.

Love the second response below....

vic
if all this people stop pulling southampton down and get on with there on life’s this young man done something wrong okay we all do things wrong in our life okay stop pulling him down

2026-06-03 07:57:15

 

Chris
Says the man who was kicked out of Southampton for having an affair with Jose Fonte’s wife.. not sure how he can pass any kind of moral judgment on others, especially the club he disgraced. What Pardew did was far worse than what Eckert did.. Funny how the football media go to the dregs of society for their comments.. wonder why? Maybe because they also lack any sort of morality.

2026-06-03 12:06:36

[trousers]

The EFL displaying their competence yet again...

 

[Patrick Bateman]

1 hour ago, BERMUDASAINT said:

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/alan-pardew-reacts-dragan-solaks-backing-southampton-boss-tonda-eckert/

Ex Saints manager with his "strange views", he is someone who has always liked a  bit of "strange".....ask Fonte.

Love the second response below....

vic
if all this people stop pulling southampton down and get on with there on life’s this young man done something wrong okay we all do things wrong in our life okay stop pulling him down

2026-06-03 07:57:15

 

Chris
Says the man who was kicked out of Southampton for having an affair with Jose Fonte’s wife.. not sure how he can pass any kind of moral judgment on others, especially the club he disgraced. What Pardew did was far worse than what Eckert did.. Funny how the football media go to the dregs of society for their comments.. wonder why? Maybe because they also lack any sort of morality.

2026-06-03 12:06:36

They will be asking Collymore his opinion next.

[saintant]

I'm getting a sense that most fans are now going ahead full throttle in developing a thick skinned, hard nosed siege mentality. Feels like we've pulled up the draw bridge having had more then enough of the holier than thou platitudes and the rank hypocracy of many pundits and journos. We accepted and paid a huge price for what, let's face it, is a small discretion in the football world which is rife with a total lack of integrity and onfield cheating of every kind. Now we seem ready to say a huge fuck you to the many detractors, mischief makers and bullshitters who have blown up this whole saga in a completely over the top onslaught. We've been a nice family club for too long and now is the time to bare our teeth and fight like hell. 

[trousers]

[DT]

4 hours ago, BERMUDASAINT said:

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/alan-pardew-reacts-dragan-solaks-backing-southampton-boss-tonda-eckert/

Ex Saints manager with his "strange views", he is someone who has always liked a  bit of "strange".....ask Fonte.

Love the second response below....

vic
if all this people stop pulling southampton down and get on with there on life’s this young man done something wrong okay we all do things wrong in our life okay stop pulling him down

2026-06-03 07:57:15

 

Chris
Says the man who was kicked out of Southampton for having an affair with Jose Fonte’s wife.. not sure how he can pass any kind of moral judgment on others, especially the club he disgraced. What Pardew did was far worse than what Eckert did.. Funny how the football media go to the dregs of society for their comments.. wonder why? Maybe because they also lack any sort of morality.

2026-06-03 12:06:36

The same Alan Pardew who once said on Match of the Day that Chelsea's Michael Essien 'raped' Ched Evans in a tackle. Such a nice man.

Have always thought he was an unutterable prick and an absolute charlatan in management. Emperor's new clothes. Very evident in his 'punditry'  

[WinglessWonder]

...albeit still a little bit lenient. 

[Saint Neil]

Saw this on my Corn Flakes box this morning, could be a good way to get some spying in and just look at one of the teams/players they used in the picture!

[tdmickey3]

15 hours ago, trousers said:

Gibbo to replace him ??

 

[Patrick Bateman]

 

Majestic wines aligning with Gibson ... 🌚

[Pengi]

2 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Gibbo to replace him ??

 

That would be my worst nightmare 😱

[saintant]

2 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

Gibbo to replace him ??

 

Nah, Gibbo wouldn't want a less powerful position 🙂

[tdmickey3]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Nah, Gibbo wouldn't want a less powerful position 🙂

EFL Trial by media commission chief

[saintant]

1 minute ago, tdmickey3 said:

EFL Trial by media commission chief

He's already got that hat.

[do i not like fizzy pop]

Found this on my desk at work on Wednesday. Nice work from one of the Boro fans 🤣

[Secret Site Agent]

On 03/06/2026 at 12:59, Chez said:

I find it hard to believe there wasn't any info we wanted for any of the other 40 odd games.

Did we admit to spying on Oxford and Ipswich because evidence had been presented about both, so we couldn't really deny it, or did we give that information voluntarily? 

I don't think it is because we didn't want info on the other 40, or that we didn't spy, but we just didn't spy within the 72 hour window. Remember that's the crime, not the spying.

[The Kraken]

3 hours ago, Secret Site Agent said:

I don't think it is because we didn't want info on the other 40, or that we didn't spy, but we just didn't spy within the 72 hour window. Remember that's the crime, not the spying.

Not correct. Law 3.4 is the cover all law, a sort of foundation for fair play. It’s what Leeds were done for under Bielsa, and it was the second charge we were done for. It’s likely to be less an extreme punishment than the 72 hour law, but it’s still there for spying outside the 72 hours.

[Secret Site Agent]

40 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Not correct. Law 3.4 is the cover all law, a sort of foundation for fair play. It’s what Leeds were done for under Bielsa, and it was the second charge we were done for. It’s likely to be less an extreme punishment than the 72 hour law, but it’s still there for spying outside the 72 hours.

Fair play but my point is that we probably spied on them legally.

[CSA96]

Dragan Solak speaking to Adam Blackmore today:

We are not in the Premier League, where we hoped to be. But we still have done absolutely great work this season to show that we are ready to play top level football. I hope that we can pick up from there and continue this next season.

When I think about everything, I'll use a very simple parallel: I think about my family. I love Southampton and as long as I am at the helm, I consider Southampton to be my family.

If your family, your son or daughter, they do something wrong, I would never try to help them to get away with it. But if they are willing to accept that they did do something wrong, if they paid their price, then what else can you do? It's still your family and you're not going to disregard that you have a son or a daughter because they made a mistake and did something really wrong in their life.

We accept that we did wrong.

We will learn from this, we will make sure that we never, ever again repeat that. But after that, we accept it and we move on. Obviously now, I am going to do everything I possibly can to repair and make the damage less and to try to even build on this so that we emerge as a better, stronger and more respectful club.

Edited 7 hours ago by CSA96

[trousers]

Anyone else thinking that the lack of info out there about the FA enquiry is a tad odd?

With the EFL enquiry we pretty much had a daily running commentary on what was happening, the time table, the make up of the panel, what the EFL regulation breaches were and the associated charges...

And with the equivalent FA enquiry....? Nothing... Does the FA board conduct the investigation in-house, or do they commission an independent panel, like the EFL? What FA rules is Tonda (and whoever else is deemed to be involved ) being charged with breaking? What timelines are the FA working to? etc etc.

Why is the FA investigation more 'cloak and dagger' than the EFL investigation? And why is it taking them so much longer to conclude their investigations than the EFL did...?

I'm yet to see any kind of formal / official statement from the FA stating what they are doing, again, unlike the EFL, who issued a press release at the outset stating the charges and laying out the terms of reference for their investigation....

As I say, just seems a tad odd to me that we've heard zilch about it so far...

Edited 2 hours ago by trousers

[Willo of Whiteley]

I think the FA need to be very careful, they’ll be weighing up all sorts.

No fine/punishment could effectively mean the EFL shit the bed and went into overkill too harshly. Fuss over nothing etc.

Then you have to think about how other bans have been in the past, the reasonings.

For example if Tonda was banned for six months for being aware of a teenager spying compared to someone who has been outright racist and banned for five matches - tells you what they deem worse.

But I do commend the FA for keeping everything behind closed doors and not leaking shit. Same with the club too.

Personally I think he’ll get a small touch line ban of maybe four games and that’ll be that.

Edited 1 hour ago by Willo of Whiteley