Very Angry but Id keep Tonda

[James]

Tonda will have to go for this sadly. It’s an absolutely catastrophic error of judgement from Spors, he was the one pushing for a young and inexperienced manager and this is one of the consequences. He should go as well. The club is clearly run incompetently, how are we in a position where the manager doesn’t know whether his pre match prep is in compliance with league rules? It’s absolutely mind blowing.

[Saint_clark]

4 minutes ago, The Wyvern said:

If he’d been found guilty but the punishment was a fine no-one would really care and no-one would be suggesting he or SR should be sacked/replaced.

Probably be taken out of our hands anyway, but this is all a reaction to the punishment not the crime. 

But we don't live in that fantasy alternate reality, we live in the one where we're the only team to ever be booted out of the playoffs and as such our reputation is tarnished, and those who are responsible should be removed from the club.

[Toussaint]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

Playing Devil's advocate here, if Tonda didn't know it was a rule and genuinely thought it was fine, then a ban seems massively harsh. The club should have told him it was a banned practice in the Championship.

I've got a horrible feeling here that this is more a mistake than anything malicious, hence why we've admitted to it so quickly and cooperated.

The Telegraph reports that Eckert accepted responsibility for the surveillance operation involving opposition team selection and tactical analysis.

Tonda Eckert is a three-time Championship Manager of the Month (Image: Southampton FC)

READ: What happens next at Saints after being thrown out of play-offs?

The German is said to have argued he was unaware the EFL had introduced regulations in recent years prohibiting the spying on opposition teams.

[die Mannyschaft]

9 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Agreed.

All coaches know its must part of coaching badges. Even courses for refs would cover integrity and cheating. The club are total idiots to have gone along with it for so long and then backed him up.

[The Wyvern]

1 minute ago, Saint_clark said:

But we don't live in that fantasy alternate reality, we live in the one where we're the only team to ever be booted out of the playoffs and as such our reputation is tarnished, and those who are responsible should be removed from the club.

You are unable to follow a simple logical example, so we’ll leave it there. 

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, The Wyvern said:

You are unable to follow a simple logical example, so we’ll leave it there. 

My logic is working from the real life example that has actually happened, not a hypothetical one. 

[Farmer Saint]

2 minutes ago, die Mannyschaft said:

All coaches know its must part of coaching badges. Even courses for refs would cover integrity and cheating. The club are total idiots to have gone along with it for so long and then backed him up.

It's definitely not part of the coaching badges. Coaching badges are done by the FA, and it's not illegal in all British Leagues, including the PL.

Edited 54 minutes ago by Farmer Saint

[The Wyvern]

Just now, Saint_clark said:

My logic is working from the real life example that has actually happened, not a hypothetical one. 

Yes, I know 🤣

[Willo of Whiteley]

Anyone who was aware needs to be gone.

Do you really think the club want to keep people who were involved? People who have brought the stain on this club? Tarnished the fans, the good staff that work there?

People, and I mean innocent people will lose jobs over this scandal, payouts and legal fees have to come from somewhere.

[Middlewordie]

His position at Saints is untenable - ban or not. He and others have planned, organised and sanctioned activities (we only know about those events so far) to "dope" Saints' data analysis, solely to gain an advantage over other teams. The players all bought into his "preparation" without realising he was cheating. The out turn result, fair or not, is huge. He's let the fans, players and the club down, so it's a tough ask for anyone to trust him - or anyone else knowingly involved in this - again at Saints. The expected ban will make his departure much easier, I just hope Dragan realises he needs new management from the top down too.

[James]

10 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Anyone who was aware needs to be gone.

Do you really think the club want to keep people who were involved? People who have brought the stain on this club? Tarnished the fans, the good staff that work there?

People, and I mean innocent people will lose jobs over this scandal, payouts and legal fees have to come from somewhere.

The only way the club can restore any credibility after this is to immediately remove anyone associated with this sorry affair. 

[SNSUN]

Anyone involved should be gone. Tonda fit us perfectly but he's been found out. Sack anyone that is involved in the spying and get rid of the rot and the reputation. But as has been said, I suspect he might get a ban anyway. 

The challenge is finding someone else that fits us as well as he did. When I read the article about Tonda earlier in the year it seems he lives and breathes football, he's meticulous in his planning for each and every fixture. Obviously, as we know now, a little too meticulous but even so, finding someone that commits that much to football is rare, especially someone in his first full management job. 

Nonetheless, even though he held his hands up he still did what he did. We will have to look for new management. If Spors remains at the club, we can only hope he finds another gem.

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Anyone involved should be gone. Tonda fit us perfectly but he's been found out. Sack anyone that is involved in the spying and get rid of the rot and the reputation. But as has been said, I suspect he might get a ban anyway. 

The challenge is finding someone else that fits us as well as he did. When I read the article about Tonda earlier in the year it seems he lives and breathes football, he's meticulous in his planning for each and every fixture. Obviously, as we know now, a little too meticulous but even so, finding someone that commits that much to football is rare, especially someone in his first full management job. 

Nonetheless, even though he held his hands up he still did what he did. We will have to look for new management. If Spors remains at the club, we can only hope he finds another gem.

How can you say Tonda fits us perfectly....how?

[die Mannyschaft]

24 minutes ago, James said:

Tonda will have to go for this sadly. It’s an absolutely catastrophic error of judgement from Spors, he was the one pushing for a young and inexperienced manager and this is one of the consequences. He should go as well. The club is clearly run incompetently, how are we in a position where the manager doesn’t know whether his pre match prep is in compliance with league rules? It’s absolutely mind blowing.

This was pre planned and someone at the club should of had a role to make sure the club is compliant with all matters,financial rules, HR, contracts. H&S, FA regulations.  Where are the audits for these areas, regular checks? The club are happy to constantly remind fans to not bring smoke flares in and around ground and no cans of beer yet they are nicely breaching FA Laws behind the fans back. Then dont admit it immediately and sell final tickets all while having already admitted it but not put anything out on Web site to fans.

Sports Republic Out

Coaching responsible Out

PR Out

Anyone else involved Out

Free season tickets next season as club can afford it after I suspect most players will want to leave so £120m in profit. 

If Carling did a worst managed football team that tried to get away with breaching  FA football rules it would Southampton FC. And web site still says we are playing Hull at Wembley at 6.30am today.

[die Mannyschaft]

26 minutes ago, James said:

The only way the club can restore any credibility after this is to immediately remove anyone associated with this sorry affair. 

Sports Republic,  PR, Legal, coaches all need gone. Don't bring beer into ground it breaches rules and club get fined, what a joke club Saints are. Complete and utter idiots managing club. 

[SW11_Saint]

6 hours ago, OzzySaint said:

Like many fanatic Saints fans around the world I’m in shock – not so much about the punishment – I was expecting it which is why I cashed out my bet last week for Saints promotion – but about the stupidity of the action.

I am angry and deeply deeply disappointed that this was allowed to occur – where is the governance in this club. The board has a duty to ensure that the team does not break the law or breach the rules. You can shoot the manager, shoot the director of strategy and shoot any other individual but it matters not, it is the board that is culpable. They set the culture and moral behavior of the club.

The board would have completed a risk assessment at the start of the season on best / worst case scenarios, when we got into the playoffs they should have revisited this and performed a risk analysis against all possibilities including breaching regulations. Its not about being wise after the event but any company that has a deal on the table for $millions is going to analyse what could go wrong and mitigate it. Instruction/ reminders  should have been given about what was allowable and what wasn’t including “No attending training sessions prior to 72 hours before game”. ! I feel for Tonda and the team – if he made a judgement error I am sure that he would not have foreseen the likely repercussions.

Forget the punishment – it was always going to be expulsion – what else could they do? Give a mickey mouse fine that we would have paid the first week in the EPL  or give future points deductions that mean nothing??  - we got a punishment that was designed to stop this happening in the future and we deserve it.

I love the Saints and have been waking up early in the morning most weeks to watch them from Melbourne for years – my house is even called The Dell. I feel for all other fans (and sponsors) who like me were looking forward to being in the premiership next year and regaining respect for our performances given last seasons debacle. I feel for all the players who will quite rightly feel angry and aggrieved for being let down off the pitch.

Unlike many of the posts I am not calling for Tonda’s head – I believe he did what he was tasked to do, get Saints into a promotion position. The fact that no one was overseeing the compliance with the leagues regulations is not his issue – it is the boards and they have to answer for this.

I hope im wrong but I see us losing many players, being a pariah club new players wont want to come to and as importantly tarnishing our academy development. Be careful not to throw Tonda out with the bathwater as we will need him next season – he’s a very good manager and we should all remember how hard these are to come by. 

He is a good coach but his position is simply untenable. He will likely get a long ban, but he should resign anyway. If he doesn’t resign, he should be sacked, along with anyone else who is complicit in this. He has brought this downfall on the club. 

Talking of downfall… how long before someone produces one of those Hitler spoofs on us?!