Sports Republics response to “Spygate”

[Lord Duckhunter]

10 minutes ago, trousers said:

Shouldn't have called your boss a "bird" in the first place... That'll teach you... 

I wouldn’t, she’s a 2 Pinter, so I show some respect 

[S-Clarke]

27 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

The problem was they didn’t get ahead of this early enough, they were always playing catch up & because of that made a series of poor decisions. Life is full of fuck ups, and a rule of thumb is get it out there, because it’ll all come out in the end.
 

Different industry/importance but only last year I sailed close to the wind with our compliance team at work, my boss said “tell me everything, and I’ll try and protect you”, (fair enough, she did). That’s what should have happened here, the day it broke Parsons should have had it all laid out to him, everything. It seems to me that he didn’t realise the extent of it when he spoke to “Gibbo” & we first indicated to the press it was a “lone wolf”.
 

It seems to me that the facts had to be dragged out of us, bit by bit. It’s understandable that supporters didn’t comprehend the seriousness of it, but that’s Parsons job & he should  have known every single detail from day one. If we knew that, our legal response may of been different.
 

Could we have dragged it out, could we have agreed a speedy timetable which COULD have led to a 3-0 default defeat in the first leg. It’s very easy to criticise the legal team, but were we upfront with them from the off, or was their defence based on limited knowledge of the full facts. 
 

If it was my club, I’d want a full and through deep dive into this. Not the spying itself, that can be separate, but on the general response. Unbelievably, we’ve managed to look shady, unscrupulous and useless at the same time. And for what, the worse scenario. 

Yep, I agree - the nature of how we handled this to me is even more troubling because it shows more of a systemic lack of entire control organisational wide. This may have been 4 or 5 idiots between the analytic and management teams doing stupid things, but the response from the club (well, lack of front) demonstrates that our issues go far, far, far deeper at an organisational core.

We shouldn't be surprised though. We often correlate silence with professionalism, but in the case of us the silence is quite clearly the biggest evidence we've ever had that Sports Republic are indeed entirely incompetent at running large organisations. 

For the fans of the club, who are the biggest victim in all of this, we deserve better leadership and better governance. I'm embarrassed to the core for what SR have allowed us to become.

Edited 6 hours ago by S-Clarke

[bpsaint]

8 minutes ago, Mt.B-Real said:

The club are taking the piss out of us .

No statement on the OS until the following day after we had been kicked out - unacceptable.

One shitty statement talking about 'accountability'. 3 days later, zero fucking accountability.

Two fucking weeks to get your money back, that they took off you whilst being fully aware they had admitted to cheating and being thrown out was inevitable. Piss take.

Only update on the website is about a fucking take that concert!

They do not deserve our support.

Please just fuck off

 

 

A lot of other fanbases would be down at the stadium trying to rip the doors off out of anger. Unfortunately whilst we turn up in great numbers and support is underrated we’ve always been too placid when things are going wrong.

Earlier this season when frustrations were at their peak all SR got was a few chants in their direction.

We’ve been robbed at our chance of promotion, our clubs name has been dragged through the mud, and all we’ve had is one statement from the man probably as culpable as anyone by his Boro boardroom confessional.

Owners are getting an easy ride from us once again, and they know people will keep putting their hands in their pockets regardless.

Edited 6 hours ago by bpsaint

[sfc4prem]

3 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

A lot of other fanbases would be down at the stadium trying to rip the doors off out of anger. Unfortunately whilst we turn up in great numbers and support is underrated we’ve always been too placid when things are going wrong.

Earlier this season when frustrations were at their peak all SR got was a few chants in their direction.

We’ve been robbed at our chance of promotion, our clubs name has been dragged through the mud, and all we’ve had is one statement from the man probably as culpable as anyone by his Boro boardroom confessional.

Owners are getting an easy ride from us once again, and they know people will keep putting their hands in their pockets regardless.

It's because most of us have better things to do. As a small fanbase we're comparatively affluent. Compare us to Boro and you'll see the socioeconomic difference that would result in them protesting like crazy were the roles reversed.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

20 minutes ago, trousers said:

Pssst... Quick... Correct that before anyone notices...

Thanks...

"Maybe Dragin has sacked everyone, including the media team? "

There. No one will ever know.

[Bobsmith]

Parsons, the entire legal team working this case, the entire media/PR team working this case, all need to be sacked immediately for negligence. I would keep Tonda as I think he's proven to be an exceptional manager. Like the Bielsa situation, having a top manager would make us much more likely to get promoted this season, and with our top players leaving, it will give him space to rebuild relationships with the rest of the squad. 

[bpsaint]

7 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

It's because most of us have better things to do. As a small fanbase we're comparatively affluent. Compare us to Boro and you'll see the socioeconomic difference that would result in them protesting like crazy were the roles reversed.

So a handful of people on salaries we can only dream of, with no emotional connection to our club, get away with ruining the dreams of its customers because we all have jobs and nobody really cares enough? 
 

Wow, that pretty much sums up why Sport Republic get an easy ride from us.

[sfc4prem]

13 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

So a handful of people on salaries we can only dream of, with no emotional connection to our club, get away with ruining the dreams of its customers because we all have jobs and nobody really cares enough? 
 

Wow, that pretty much sums up why Sport Republic get an easy ride from us.

Absolutely.

[Gloucester Saint]

17 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

So a handful of people on salaries we can only dream of, with no emotional connection to our club, get away with ruining the dreams of its customers because we all have jobs and nobody really cares enough? 
 

Wow, that pretty much sums up why Sport Republic get an easy ride from us.

It is more like that up there, people don’t have much else outside of professional-level circles. Southampton certainly has deprivation but it doesn’t compare.

But our fans got led up the garden path by Tonda and SR as much as the players did and both were let down very badly. That’s a gross understatement.

Solak should at least have put his hand in his pocket this week and refunded everybody who went to both legs with a customer record. It’s his organisation and yet again we have horrific failures in governance. Three of their four seasons have been a total write-offs. That’s an appalling record. The EFL should do their job that they failed to in Sheffield and tell him to sell before they take Southampton off him. 

[James G]

2 hours ago, trousers said:

Which is all well and good... But what's stopping them providing interim updates to this effect? To go into 'radio silence' mode is either an insult to fans (and red rag to a bull for the media) or there's 'something' going on in the background that warrants it....

I agree

I think clearing the decks provides that clean sheet feel we need just now, as brutal as is might be internally

It also let's everyone move on

[Dman]

Covering what has already been said, but the club grossly under estimated this and that is on Parson and for that, he has to go. 

Long story short, I’ve a friend of a very close friend who works within the club. An area who would have been a very big part of this whole thing. 

When news broke, the word was “expecting a fine and points, hoping to mitigate the points”. They never believed expulsion was on the cards.

Clearly we were guilty as sin, but a decent defence barrister from from minute go, I honest believe we get away with it, or at the very least would be heading to Wembley today (with or without this still lingering over us).

From the trial by media, to members of the Boro camp on the EFL board and potentially commission, there were so many holes that at the very least could have been exploited to delayed things. 

Unfortunately, this sums up Sports Republic. Naive and incompetent. 

Of course we get the only Serbian who isn’t a fucking nut job. 

[bpsaint]

23 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

It is more like that up there, people don’t have much else outside of professional-level circles. Southampton certainly has deprivation but it doesn’t compare.

But our fans got led up the garden path by Tonda and SR as much as the players did and both were let down very badly. That’s a gross understatement.

Solak should at least have put his hand in his pocket this week and refunded everybody who went to both legs with a customer record. It’s his organisation and yet again we have horrific failures in governance. Three of their four seasons have been a total write-offs. That’s an appalling record. The EFL should do their job that they failed to in Sheffield and tell him to sell before they take Southampton off him. 

I mean putting the north/south to one side, which I understand, literally thousands of people were stood outside the stadium from 5.30 just over a week ago getting ready to welcome a team that needed support and boy did we do it. But where’s that same level of support when we’re getting shafted as fans?

These owners have taken a mid table side, relegated them twice with some of the most incompetent managerial choices in the history of our club, and still we turn up in our droves to support the side but never direct or frustrations to the people that cause our pain. Then finally the gross incompetence of a handful of people means 37000 of us aren’t going to Wembley today, and yet most of us are just moaning what a cunt Steve Gibson is, or the KC was crooked, or what an injustice. Remember the protests Lowe used to get, for what in hindsight were lesser crimes than SR were culpable of.

How about we turn our attention to those that put us in this position. Stop waiting for a statement and fucking demand one. It’s an absolute joke, I mean what more can these owners get away with before the penny finally drops and they get both barrels?

If history has taught us anything it’ll be radio silence for weeks on end, we’ll dilly dally over a new manager, and before we know it we’re going into a new season on the back foot, short of players and totally under prepared.

You can bet your arse Phil “smirking cunt” Parsons hasn’t got any upset kids to comfort about not going to Wembley today. He’s probably at home enjoying the sun thinking Oh well never mind, it’ll all blow over. 

Edited 5 hours ago by bpsaint

[Mr Saints]

Not a big fan of Blackmore but he’s spot on this morning. Enough really is enough.

[trousers]

52 minutes ago, Dman said:

Long story short, I’ve a friend of a very close friend who works within the club. An area who would have been a very big part of this whole thing. 

Does that mean you might be aware other of damning stuff that could come to light over the coming days / weeks?

(I'm not asking you to divulge if there is or not, just curious whether it's something you might know)

Edited 5 hours ago by trousers

[Gloucester Saint]

35 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

I mean putting the north/south to one side, which I understand, literally thousands of people were stood outside the stadium from 5.30 just over a week ago getting ready to welcome a team that needed support and boy did we do it. But where’s that same level of support when we’re getting shafted as fans?

These owners have taken a mid table side, relegated them twice with some of the most incompetent managerial choices in the history of our club, and still we turn up in our droves to support the side but never direct or frustrations to the people that cause our pain. Then finally the gross incompetence of a handful of people means 37000 of us aren’t going to Wembley today, and yet most of us are just moaning what a cunt Steve Gibson is, or the KC was crooked, or what an injustice. Remember the protests Lowe used to get, for what in hindsight were lesser crimes than SR were culpable of.

How about we turn our attention to those that put us in this position. Stop waiting for a statement and fucking demand one. It’s an absolute joke, I mean what more can these owners get away with before the penny finally drops and they get both barrels?

If history has taught us anything it’ll be radio silence for weeks on end, we’ll dilly dally over a new manager, and before we know it we’re going into a new season on the back foot, short of players and totally under prepared.

You can bet your arse Phil “smirking cunt” Parsons hasn’t got any upset kids to comfort about not going to Wembley today. He’s probably at home enjoying the sun thinking Oh well never mind, it’ll all blow over. 

Our fans were just left to field the assault from BBC Tees (whose comments were a disgrace towards us, who hadn’t done anything), Sky, Daily Mail, various ex-jailbird pundits, and called a cunt, a cheat and plenty of other things by Middlesbrough supporters both in the street and online. The club’s silence and weakness meant we, and the players, took the brunt when neither had anything to do it.

I’ll never forgive the club for that, at least until it’s under new, ambitious and clean ownership with the right intentions towards the wellbeing of the club, city and the sport. It’s not Southampton Football Club whilst it’s under the vile SR umbrella. 

I’m astonished that Tonda is still getting 30-40% support on the in/out poll but as you say, it’s typical of how easy a ride SR have had. But I don’t blame our supporters one iota. They’ve been appallingly let down and even worse left on their own during the worst moment in the club’s history to face a barrage.

The club have let us down so many times over the last few years being unprofessional but this quite a rupture. The only way SR survive is to make it clear how sorry they are and to make it up by spending every penny PSR allows for however many years it takes to get the club back and established in the PL. No whining about parachute payments.

But they won’t so no point holding that expectation.

Just sell up SR.

 

[Dman]

29 minutes ago, trousers said:

Does that mean you might be aware other of damning stuff that could come to light over the coming days / weeks?

(I'm not asking you to divulge if there is or not, just curious whether it's something you might know)

Unfortunately not. Radio silence pretty much since the event other than last week when I was told the above. This was before the additional charges, for what it’s worth.  

I get small snippets, but a relatively senior figure who doesn’t often say much. Generally speaking, saints are pretty good at keeping things in-house. 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Bobsmith said:

Parsons, the entire legal team working this case, the entire media/PR team working this case, all need to be sacked immediately for negligence. I would keep Tonda as I think he's proven to be an exceptional manager. Like the Bielsa situation, having a top manager would make us much more likely to get promoted this season, and with our top players leaving, it will give him space to rebuild relationships with the rest of the squad. 

Are you on a windup?

You would sack everyone apart from the person who is totally to blame for the cheating in the first place?

Absolute fucking madness.

[Dman]

6 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Are you on a windup?

You would sack everyone apart from the person who is totally to blame for the cheating in the first place?

Absolute fucking madness.

The only person who should be sacked is Parsons. 

[CB Fry]

2 hours ago, Bobsmith said:

Parsons, the entire legal team working this case, the entire media/PR team working this case, all need to be sacked immediately for negligence. I would keep Tonda as I think he's proven to be an exceptional manager. Like the Bielsa situation, having a top manager would make us much more likely to get promoted this season, and with our top players leaving, it will give him space to rebuild relationships with the rest of the squad. 

Absolute forum gold.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, CB Fry said:

Absolute forum gold.

I thought the Boro board was mental about a week ago......

[Wade Garrett]

9 minutes ago, Dman said:

The only person who should be sacked is Parsons. 

Absolute fucking bullshit in my opinion.

[sadoldgit]

We have taken an emotional hit but SR have taken a massive financial and reputational hit. I’m not surprised they are taking their time. Any response needs to be very carefully considered. I’d rather they took their time to come to the right way forward than to rush a response and add to the shit show we already have.

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Absolute fucking bullshit in my opinion.

Fair enough, that’s your opinion. A week ago, everyone was saying how it’s a minor infringement and laughed it off. 

because the EFL have brought into the pressure applied by Boro and the media, it’s now this huge issue. 
 

if parsons had kept his mouth shut and employed a decent legal firm from the first minute, we’d have been at Wembley today. 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Dman said:

Covering what has already been said, but the club grossly under estimated this and that is on Parson and for that, he has to go. 

Long story short, I’ve a friend of a very close friend who works within the club. An area who would have been a very big part of this whole thing. 

When news broke, the word was “expecting a fine and points, hoping to mitigate the points”. They never believed expulsion was on the cards.

Clearly we were guilty as sin, but a decent defence barrister from from minute go, I honest believe we get away with it, or at the very least would be heading to Wembley today (with or without this still lingering over us).

From the trial by media, to members of the Boro camp on the EFL board and potentially commission, there were so many holes that at the very least could have been exploited to delayed things. 

Unfortunately, this sums up Sports Republic. Naive and incompetent. 

Of course we get the only Serbian who isn’t a fucking nut job. 

As CEO the response is on Parsons. Like you said pretty clear they underestimated it, to be fair most of us did and never expected to be thrown out. However, it’s his job to protect the club and he failed. His cosying up to Gibson sorry Steve, yeah we did it, we’ll pay the fine, was embarrassing and summed up how blasé they were to it all.  Tonda did the crime but Parsons response was arrogant. The old saying plan for the worst hope for the best was never truer here, he didn’t do it and paid the price 

[Wade Garrett]

6 minutes ago, Dman said:

Fair enough, that’s your opinion. A week ago, everyone was saying how it’s a minor infringement and laughed it off. 

because the EFL have brought into the pressure applied by Boro and the media, it’s now this huge issue. 
 

if parsons had kept his mouth shut and employed a decent legal firm from the first minute, we’d have been at Wembley today. 

No we wouldn’t. 

We spied, were banged to rights and got caught.  The only difference if we didn’t admit it would be a 6 point deduction rather than 4.
 

[John B]

20 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Absolutely, I still think we have a chance of winning a civil suit for compensation given the way the EFL handled the process.

Based on what?

[Cuddles]

Has there actually been a response yet?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

6 minutes ago, Cuddles said:

Has there actually been a response yet?

No response...SR flat lined. And that last spike was the Take That concert announcement.

 

[Challenger]

5 hours ago, Dman said:

Covering what has already been said, but the club grossly under estimated this and that is on Parson and for that, he has to go. 

Long story short, I’ve a friend of a very close friend who works within the club. An area who would have been a very big part of this whole thing. 

When news broke, the word was “expecting a fine and points, hoping to mitigate the points”. They never believed expulsion was on the cards.

Clearly we were guilty as sin, but a decent defence barrister from from minute go, I honest believe we get away with it, or at the very least would be heading to Wembley today (with or without this still lingering over us).

From the trial by media, to members of the Boro camp on the EFL board and potentially commission, there were so many holes that at the very least could have been exploited to delayed things. 

Unfortunately, this sums up Sports Republic. Naive and incompetent. 

Of course we get the only Serbian who isn’t a fucking nut job. 

The defence of the spying is more laughable than the spying itself.