The Spygate Saga

[trousers]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I cant see how we would have gained anything from doing it. It seems absolutely pointless to me with the only outcome is people thinking we are playing the victim. Whilst i do completely agree that the offence is pretty minor we were still guilty of it and admitted as such so whining about how much money it's cost in legal fees is pretty embarrassing, 

As for what punishment he gets, i cant see why they'd give him a touchline ban as the offence didn't happen on the touchline. It'll be a full ban you'd think and i fully expect him to get hammered for it. Way over the top as was the punishment of kicking us out the play off final and the 4 point penalty, but as has been said they love making examples of smaller clubs.

Yup, my gut feeling too ☹️

[Patches O Houlihan]

Also it is the FA sanctioning a manager for an action that is not against their rules in the Premier League (or across most of Europe.) 
He broke an EFL rule and we’ve already had their sanctions. 

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Also it is the FA sanctioning a manager for an action that is not against their rules in the Premier League (or across most of Europe.) 
He broke an EFL rule and we’ve already had their sanctions. 

this is exactly what Parson's wants you (and the masses) to believe.

Edited 2 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, Teamsaint1 said:

Well they were damned if they do etc.Maybe they didn't have grounds to sack him with the inevitable compensation and hoped , perhaps reasonably, that the FA punishment would be a slap on the wrist given the previous sanctions. None of us know.

 

Maybe they should have kept their eye on the ball, sacked TE anyway,  kept Archer and not blown  £9m on Dobbin, to help  pay for the compensation  

If they didn't have grounds to sack him without compensation, I'd struggle to think of any instance where they would be able to. Maybe he'd have to bring a bazooka into training and start shooting at the players. Once the punishment was confirmed we obviously made a choice to keep him which I don't necessarily disagree with but it came with certain risks which we are seeing now. I don't think we can reasonably complain about the consequences now when we knew them months ago whether we agree with them or not.

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

this is exactly what Parson's wants you (and the masses) to believe.

When the FA sanctions one of their rules being broken it is an insignificant fine for financial doping across years on a huge scale. The FA can fuck off

[hypochondriac]

5 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Also it is the FA sanctioning a manager for an action that is not against their rules in the Premier League (or across most of Europe.) 
He broke an EFL rule and we’ve already had their sanctions. 

Just as a reminder 

Tonda Eckert has been charged by the FA with three breaches of FA Rule E3.1.

The FA alleges that he “acted in an improper manner and/or brought the game into disrepute” by directing and/or authorising Southampton staff to observe opposition training sessions before matches against:

Oxford United — December 2025
Ipswich Town — April 2026
Middlesbrough — May 2026

[trousers]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Just as a reminder 

Tonda Eckert has been charged by the FA with three breaches of FA Rule E3.1.

The FA alleges that he “acted in an improper manner and/or brought the game into disrepute” by directing and/or authorising Southampton staff to observe opposition training sessions before matches against:

Oxford United — December 2025
Ipswich Town — April 2026
Middlesbrough — May 2026

Yep... Which just happens to be exactly the same FA rule that existed at the time that Bielsa admitted to doing the same as Tonda, only more often... (Yes, I know, I know... "New EFL rule"... "Bullying".... Blah blah blah)

Edited 2 hours ago by trousers

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

When the FA sanctions one of their rules being broken it is an insignificant fine for financial doping across years on a huge scale. The FA can fuck off

Well they cant though can they because they run the game. They turn a blind eye to the big clubs giving our relatively small punishments 

But who regulates them? The FA are effectively self governing so they can pretty much do what they want as long as it doesn't break any government laws.

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep... Which just happens to be exactly the same FA rule that existed at the time that Bielsa admitted to doing the same as Tonda, only more often... (Yes, I know, I know... "New EFL rule"... "Bullying".... Blah blah blah)

Alfie house repeated again yesterday that there is no evidence of bullying and that it isn't relevant to the charge.

[AlexLaw76]

What do you all reckon will happen.

Firstly, a fine of some sort.

Then I believe it will be a 9 game touchline ban, reduced to 4-6 due to the level of cooperation.

That will be that

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Alfie house repeated again yesterday that there is no evidence of bullying and that it isn't relevant to the charge.

Yes, he knows that, you know that and I know that... I was, somewhat flippantly , just paraphrasing those that still believe it is a factor...

[trousers]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

What do you all reckon will happen.

Firstly, a fine of some sort.

Then I believe it will be a 9 game touchline ban, reduced to 4-6 due to the level of cooperation.

That will be that

Banned from all footballing activities for a whole season, backdated to the start of this season. We then appeal and f*** that up again. 

Edited 2 hours ago by trousers

[Miltonaggro]

With the soppy cunts running SFC I can actually see a worst scenario happening, whereby the FA (emboldened by Sport Republic terminal weakness v the EFL) gives TE a season ban causing the club to sack him, without any inkling of a suitable replacement sounded out and ready to come in. The entire experience of SR at SFC has been an expensive and costly work experience project. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, trousers said:

Banned from all footballing activities for a whole season, backdated to the start of this season. We then appeal and f*** that up again. 

Probably more accurate that my optimistic prediction.

[saintant]

I don't always agree with Simon Jordan but do in regard to his views on the FA potential punishment of Tonda. He believes that the only route to a heavy sanction is the FA deciding it fancies the attention: "If the FA want to make headlines for themselves, and add value to what they feel that their reputation is going to be burdened by, then they'll do something ridiculous."

That's exactly how I see it. 

[trousers]

Just now, saintant said:

I don't always agree with Simon Jordan but do in regard to his views on the FA potential punishment of Tonda. He believes that the only route to a heavy sanction is the FA deciding it fancies the attention: "If the FA want to make headlines for themselves, and add value to what they feel that their reputation is going to be burdened by, then they'll do something ridiculous."

That's exactly how I see it. 

Indeed... Now where did I put my Groundhog Day GIF...?

[Miltonaggro]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Well they cant though can they because they run the game. They turn a blind eye to the big clubs giving our relatively small punishments 

But who regulates them? The FA are effectively self governing so they can pretty much do what they want as long as it doesn't break any government laws.

Very deep pockets and both the EFL and FA could be tested in the civil courts, but I don’t think Solak has the stomach for it, allied to clueless advisors who think capitulation is decisive action. 

[Eire Saint]

52 minutes ago, maxi_sopez said:

Come across poorly. Haven’t we been through enough - whining, looking for sympathy. Not sure why they’ve even done this. Does nothing for saints fans and encourages pile on from others. Bizarre 

Worked for Boro. 

In May we stayed silent, and got absolutely hammered. Don't think it's a bad idea to remind people we've already been punished twice for this. The first being probably the biggest sporting sanction in football history. The second a points deduction for this season to hamper our progress. This narrative that it's just a punishment for Tonda is bullshit, it's a third punishment for the club after the season has started. The FA pissing about for 4 months makes any punishment worse as we've no time to adjust.

The club in a no win here. Say nothing, we're weak and spineless. Come out to try to plead our case, everyone goes nuts.

I'm okay with the latter. 

[Patches O Houlihan]

12 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep... Which just happens to be exactly the same FA rule that existed at the time that Bielsa admitted to doing the same as Tonda, only more often... (Yes, I know, I know... "New EFL rule"... "Bullying".... Blah blah blah)

Bielsa won the fair play prize at the end of that season too…

[EssEffCee]

14 minutes ago, trousers said:

Yep... Which just happens to be exactly the same FA rule that existed at the time that Bielsa admitted to doing the same as Tonda, only more often... (Yes, I know, I know... "New EFL rule"... "Bullying".... Blah blah blah)

The 'bullying' nonsense is completely irrelevant.

The new EFL quite clearly is no matter how much you want to pretend it isn't.

[trousers]

Actually, there's a fair number of posts from other clubs' fans on this BBC Sport Facebook post saying that we've been punished enough and that the FA shouldn't dish out anything too significant... Maybe Parsons has played a blinder after all...?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19LJiUXifZ/

 

[trousers]

6 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Bielsa won the fair play prize at the end of that season too…

Indeed... I'm just about to submit my nomination of Tonda for this year's Nobel Peace Prize...

[trousers]

5 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

The 'bullying' nonsense is completely irrelevant.

The new EFL quite clearly is no matter how much you want to pretend it isn't.

I'm not "pretending" anything... I think the new EFL rule WILL be taken into account by the FA, doesn't mean I have to agree with that stance...

[Britannia]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Indeed... I'm just about to submit my nomination of Tonda for this year's Nobel Peace Prize...

Or maybe the FIFA one?

[Pamplemousse]

The entire media attention over this has been way over the top.

Nobody mentions Chelsea's 74 financial charges and how they somehow got away with a slap on the wrist. It's an absolute disgrace.

[James]

Suspect we will be looking for a new manager this week. Hope I am wrong but these “independent panels” that decide our fate appear to be the equivalent of kangaroo courts. The fact the club is on a PR offensive this week doesn’t fill me with hope.

The one thing I just can’t understand is how the FA didn’t charge Bielsa. If the FA rule that Tonda is being charged under existed when Bielsa admitted the same conduct then it’s double standards, plain and simple. I hope whatever legal team we’ve got on this are hammering hope that hypocrisy.

[BARCELONASAINT]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Actually, there's a fair number of posts from other clubs' fans on this BBC Sport Facebook post saying that we've been punished enough and that the FA shouldn't dish out anything too significant... Maybe Parsons has played a blinder after all...?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19LJiUXifZ/

 

I think most reasonable football fans no matter what club they support recognise Southampton have been punished more than enough.

The FA is an absolute joke of an organisation that only pick on smaller clubs where they know they can't afford mega rich solicitors ala Man City, Chelsea etc.

European clubs and fans think this is an absolutely hilarious situation and only in England this could happen. Tonda is highly regarded abroad and i have no doubt at all should the worst happen he will be snapped up by a European club.

I'm very much of the siege mentality and fuck the FA, we stand by Tonda no matter what the sanctions.

[James]

3 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

I think most reasonable football fans no matter what club they support recognise Southampton have been punished more than enough.

The FA is an absolute joke of an organisation that only pick on smaller clubs where they know they can't afford mega rich solicitors ala Man City, Chelsea etc.

European clubs and fans think this is an absolutely hilarious situation and only in England this could happen. Tonda is highly regarded abroad and i have no doubt at all should the worst happen he will be snapped up by a European club.

I'm very much of the siege mentality and fuck the FA, we stand by Tonda no matter what the sanctions.

Nice idea in principle but if he’s banned from all football activities for any length of time we can’t stand by him. We did to at least make the playoffs this season and installing Garner or Lallana for the rest of the season essentially writes the rest of this season off in my view. 

[hypochondriac]

22 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

With the soppy cunts running SFC I can actually see a worst scenario happening, whereby the FA (emboldened by Sport Republic terminal weakness v the EFL) gives TE a season ban causing the club to sack him, without any inkling of a suitable replacement sounded out and ready to come in. The entire experience of SR at SFC has been an expensive and costly work experience project. 

TBF if that does happen we'd at least have a couple of weeks before the next game (although more likely a week given we'd appeal).

[hypochondriac]

If the club had to sy something I'd actually have preferred the club to come out today and say something like "we don't agree with the punishment we were given but we have been through the process, it's in the past and we have to move on. We understand that this a personal hearing related to the conduct of Tonda. We believe there are a number of factors here that the FA should consider. The time the investigation has taken, that it's rumbled on well into the season, and the lack of punishment given to managers who have broken the same rules in a more egregious manner. 

[Pamplemousse]

I can see it now. A 9 game ban handed out (3 for each incident) - stadium/touchline, depends how tough the FA want to be.

 

That would put him back in the dugout for the 10th game which is against.... Middlesbrough

[hypochondriac]

27 minutes ago, saintant said:

I don't always agree with Simon Jordan but do in regard to his views on the FA potential punishment of Tonda. He believes that the only route to a heavy sanction is the FA deciding it fancies the attention: "If the FA want to make headlines for themselves, and add value to what they feel that their reputation is going to be burdened by, then they'll do something ridiculous."

That's exactly how I see it. 

I agree. The problem is that they may well want to do exactly that.

[saintant]

15 minutes ago, trousers said:

Actually, there's a fair number of posts from other clubs' fans on this BBC Sport Facebook post saying that we've been punished enough and that the FA shouldn't dish out anything too significant... Maybe Parsons has played a blinder after all...?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19LJiUXifZ/

 

The vast majority of fans are reasonable individuals and have realistic opinions. If the FA decides to hand out an excessive punishment to Tonda they may find they cop a load of criticism from many quarters.

[trousers]

14 minutes ago, James said:

The one thing I just can’t understand is how the FA didn’t charge Bielsa. If the FA rule that Tonda is being charged under existed when Bielsa admitted the same conduct then it’s double standards, plain and simple. I hope whatever legal team we’ve got on this are hammering hope that hypocrisy.

Hypothetically, (and just pondering out loud on an internet football forum, before the thought police intervene...), are we to believe that if Tonda had committed this misdemeanor as a Premier League manager, then the FA would HAVE to have treated him the same as Bielsa, given they wouldn't have the "new EFL rule" scenario on the table to leverage a different outcome, as seems likely this time around...? 

Which undelines the point I've been sticking to all along, that surely the FA should be treating all managers the same for misdemeanors such as this, regardless of which rules a particular league happens to have in place, or not as the case may be. Otherwise you just end up with inconsistent outcomes for the same 'crime'... 

Edited 1 hour ago by trousers

[sockeye]

Parsons is an embarrassment to the club

[Turkish]

29 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

What do you all reckon will happen.

Firstly, a fine of some sort.

Then I believe it will be a 9 game touchline ban, reduced to 4-6 due to the level of cooperation.

That will be that

I dont think he'll get a touchline ban because the offence didn't happen during a game. My gut feel is that he'll get hammered with a 6 month to 1 year total football ban as they'll want to set an example and they wont do it with a big club. What should realistically happen is he gets a fine and a suspended ban.

[Saint86]

Is parsons for real? "It's about the people.... We've had to spend lots of money on legal fees"...

 

Sure Phil, you don't want to play "the victim" in all this, but then you're making out that we're hard done by because we broke the rules but had to spend lots of money on lawyers to try and avert the due punishment 🙄🤦. Why is he allowed near the press?

Absolute Muppet.

Edited 1 hour ago by Saint86

[SaintNewForest]

Parsons should've been told to walk in the summer. Absolute fucking muppet. 

Keep your mouth shut.

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

I think most reasonable football fans no matter what club they support recognise Southampton have been punished more than enough.

The FA is an absolute joke of an organisation that only pick on smaller clubs where they know they can't afford mega rich solicitors ala Man City, Chelsea etc.

European clubs and fans think this is an absolutely hilarious situation and only in England this could happen. Tonda is highly regarded abroad and i have no doubt at all should the worst happen he will be snapped up by a European club.

I'm very much of the siege mentality and fuck the FA, we stand by Tonda no matter what the sanctions.

I live up North in a Leeds area and every single person up here that i've spoken to about it thinks it's an absolute joke, ridiculous and being kicked out of the play offs was way over the top. I think even Simon Jordan said recently even Middlesborough thought that until they realised they could use it to their advantage. It's become a pantomime and we are the villain in it. 

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Is parsons for real? "It's about the people.... We've had to spend lots of money on legal fees"...

 

Sure Phil, you don't want to play "the victim" in all this, but then you're making out that we're hard done by because we broke the rules but had to spend lots of money on lawyers to try and avert the due punishment 🙄🤦. Why is he allowed near the press?

Absolute Muppet.

What about the local businesses of the clubs like Wrexham that didn't get into the playoffs after we were kicked out?

[Football Special]

None of you know, just calm down and wait and see what happens later this week, getting yourselves into a right old panic. 

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I agree. The problem is that they may well want to do exactly that.

If they do they'll make themselves look foolish and should expect a significant backlash. The more rational among the game's fans MSM and pundits will make their views known.

[rallyboy]

If Tonda gets a ban for this there must be dozens of people at Man City who will be facing the death penalty.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Football Special said:

None of you know, just calm down and wait and see what happens later this week, getting yourselves into a right old panic. 

You do know that working yourself up into a panic is what forums are for dont you sir?

[trousers]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

If they do they'll make themselves look foolish and should expect a significant backlash. The more rational among the game's fans MSM and pundits will make their views known.

Which the FA won't give a stuff about...?

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

What about the local businesses of the clubs like Wrexham that didn't get into the playoffs after we were kicked out?

Why should Wrexham have got into the play-offs?

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, Football Special said:

None of you know, just calm down and wait and see what happens later this week, getting yourselves into a right old panic. 

Yeah... Fancy people speculating what might happen on an internet football forum... Whatever next...?

[BARCELONASAINT]

The likelyhood is we won't know the outcome of the hearing on Thursday.....Sky have just reported the outcome is expected before the end of the International break ffs!

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

If they do they'll make themselves look foolish and should expect a significant backlash. The more rational among the game's fans MSM and pundits will make their views known.

I doubt they give a single shit. They will levy the punishment and that will be that subject to an appeal.

[saintant]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

Which the FA won't give a stuff about...?

Only if you believe the mantra that all publicity is good publicity. I'm not so sure they'll want to make themselves look foolish especially given the leniency they show to elite clubs. Double standards won't go down well.