Sports Republics response to “Spygate”

[Ted Bates Statue]

1 hour ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Listening to Simon Peach (PA) on Saints Social (BBC) he says there still quite a lot of pretty damning stories to come when the full reports are released later in the summer.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. That was not great to hear, particularly the bit where the presenter tries to compare this point to Pochettino's departure and Peach just says, "No, because at least then we had good players coming in..."

Blame laid at the feet of Sports Republic for lack of leadership, unbeaten run papering over the cracks. No surprises there.

Edited 21 hours ago by Ted Bates Statue

[hypochondriac]

It's going to be pretty embarrassing if this goes on for another week and then the FA ban Tonda so we sack him and that's the first time we hear from the club with no further explanation. I do hope they are spending this period coming up with some sort of plan of action -whether that might involve taking some sort of action I don't know (though I doubt it). If Tonda is to leave then it needs to happen soon since we need to get his replacement in and start planning for next year so we can hit the ground running and not end up wasting half a season like this year.

[Willo of Whiteley]

2 hours ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. That was not great to hear, particularly the bit where the presenter tries to compare this point to Pochettino's departure and Peach just says, "No, because at least then we had good players coming in..."

Blame laid at the feet of Sports Republic for lack of leadership, unbeaten run papering over the cracks. No surprises there.

And Simon Peach is a Saints fan, and having followed him since maybe 2012 has always been very defensive of the club.

I thought what he said made for uncomfortable listening.

He obviously knows a thing or two.

[Pwoite]

34 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

And Simon Peach is a Saints fan, and having followed him since maybe 2012 has always been very defensive of the club.

I thought what he said made for uncomfortable listening.

He obviously knows a thing or two.

I thought Simon Peach was very straight and level headed in what he said. I do wonder, though, whether the delay is to give the club time to talk to sponsors, and the players, and gauging opinions more widely, rather than jumping in with announcement.

I would suspect that clandestine conversations with managerial options are taking place behind the scenes. Maintaining radio silence, in such circumstances, makes sense.

[Dark Munster]

14 hours ago, sfc4prem said:

I can't see a situation where the club don't pursue some form of litigation against the EFL.

I can. SR's blithering incompetence.

[manji]

17 hours ago, Thripp87 said:

Yes, I object to paying full price for a meaningless friendly against Middlesbrough because of our bellend decision making. 
Passive fans are the reason we get the piss taken out of us with lack of communication etc. 

Do you not think the PR needs to be slightly improved then? 1 whingy statement sounding like a spoilt prat they did this and got that punishment. Fucking pathetic.

Whingey, spoilt, pathetic = you

[gio1saints]

21 hours ago, DrSuess1979 said:

The whole thing stinks

It started with trial by media with victim mentality thrown in for good measure 

The “independent” panel of 3 of which 2 had Boro connections.

no justice system would allow that to continue 

We’ve been completely shafted from ever angle.

 

If this were the USA then the EFL are gonna be bankrupt soon. We would be suing the pants off of them. NOT for being kicked out though - for the reputational damage to SR Brand - likely £100’s of millions. 
This is not over - it’s hardly begun. Every Championship club is going to want a piece of the action in one way shape or form. Pandora’s box has truly been opened by the EFL showing that in order to manage the league it has to do precisely what it says it is there to stop- CHEAT! 

[Dman]

11 hours ago, Ted Bates Statue said:

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. That was not great to hear, particularly the bit where the presenter tries to compare this point to Pochettino's departure and Peach just says, "No, because at least then we had good players coming in..."

Blame laid at the feet of Sports Republic for lack of leadership, unbeaten run papering over the cracks. No surprises there.

That's not really true though, we had a wafer-thin squad the first day of Koeman's pre-season. 

It was only his knowledge of players and pull that meant we could bring in Tadic, Pelle, Mane, Alderweireld etc. towards the middle / end of the window. 

At this point last season, we had no idea who players like Jander or Scineza were, let alone that we'd sign them and they'd be stand out players. 

[Saint_clark]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

It's going to be pretty embarrassing if this goes on for another week and then the FA ban Tonda so we sack him and that's the first time we hear from the club with no further explanation. I do hope they are spending this period coming up with some sort of plan of action -whether that might involve taking some sort of action I don't know (though I doubt it). If Tonda is to leave then it needs to happen soon since we need to get his replacement in and start planning for next year so we can hit the ground running and not end up wasting half a season like this year.

I mean playing devil's advocate, I think they will be discussing potential replacements as a contingency regardless of whether they intend to try and keep Tonda.

[hypochondriac]

28 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I mean playing devil's advocate, I think they will be discussing potential replacements as a contingency regardless of whether they intend to try and keep Tonda.

Maybe so but that really needs to happen fairly soon you would think if we want to not be at any more of a disadvantage next season than we already are.

[Saint Fan CaM]

How’s the mood on the Boro fans sites? Gone a bit quiet or are they just wallowing in their own self-pity?

[BranfootsLoveChild]

10 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

How’s the mood on the Boro fans sites? Gone a bit quiet or are they just wallowing in their own self-pity?

Saying how they aren't bothered they didn't go up, just glad it wasn't Saints. Whst a crock of shit 😅

[trousers]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe so but that really needs to happen fairly soon you would think if we want to not be at any more of a disadvantage next season than we already are.

There's no rush... It's half term holiday week FFS...!

[Mk1J]

On 28/05/2026 at 10:02, Toussaint said:

So am I. But I do want my money back, I’ll gladly have yours if you don’t want it. 

Ask the EFL for it. They allowed it to go ahead knowing they might throw us out. 

[Scummer]

22 minutes ago, Mk1J said:

Ask the EFL for it. They allowed it to go ahead knowing they might throw us out. 

Worse than that, they were actually recommending that we were thrown out. And then they still gave us more Wembley tickets after they knew the verdict...

[die Mannyschaft]

12 minutes ago, Scummer said:

Worse than that, they were actually recommending that we were thrown out. And then they still gave us more Wembley tickets after they knew the verdict...

It was a planned punishment for Saints by EFL (Boro reserves) and Boro to make an example of the club.  Allowing the tickets to be sold was the most stupid decision in football ever more idiotic than the spying itself.

[Toussaint]

53 minutes ago, Mk1J said:

Ask the EFL for it. They allowed it to go ahead knowing they might throw us out. 

At that point they didn’t know the extent of the breaches, we did. 

[tdmickey3]

25 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

At that point they didn’t know the extent of the breaches, we did. 

They did, Boro had already told them the punishment to administer 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

They did, Boro had already told them the punishment to administer 

The EFL behaviour at that time reeks of blind panic.

[warsash saint]

Hmmm???

[Nolan]

22 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

Hmmm???

Direct link to the article.

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/39252555/southampton-players-tonda-eckert-stay-spygate/

Edited 1 hour ago by Nolan

[Cuddles]

14 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Direct link to the article.

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/39252555/southampton-players-tonda-eckert-stay-spygate/

Interesting if true!

Edited 1 hour ago by Cuddles

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

WTF. If not him, then who? Spors?

[BotleySaint]

6 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

How’s the mood on the Boro fans sites? Gone a bit quiet or are they just wallowing in their own self-pity?

Thank you. You've just reminded me they lost again and I can relive the joy of laughing at them 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

Just now, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

WTF. If not him, then who? Spors?

We must be in to Phase Two - the buck passing.

Tonda breaking the rules with his excessive scouting was technically wrong (apparently teams knew we did it and even laid on fake drills for the 'spectators') but how SR have handled the situation since the story first broke is much worse.

While we guess what SR are up to, and conspiracy theories abound, sometimes the answer is very simple - SR aren't doing anything because they don't know what to do. They didn't react when the news first broke because they didn't know how to. Now there's no news because they don't know whether to keep Tonda or ditch him and are probably hoping the FA will make the decision for them. The FA won't be in such a rush as the EFL.