Tonda Eckert

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

The Guardian stoking the fires tonight with an article saying that the FA could follow FIFA's lead and ban him for a year. Referencing the fucking Canadian women's team again.

[trousers]

1 hour ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

The Guardian stoking the fires tonight with an article saying that the FA could follow FIFA's lead and ban him for a year. Referencing the fucking Canadian women's team again.

Canada played 3 competitive matches during her one year ban... So if the FA do follow FiFA's lead, one assumes they'd be logical and apply the ban equally proportionately.... Ah... The FA and logic... Yeah, never gonna happen, is it...?

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

Canada played 3 competitive matches during her one year ban... So if the FA do follow FiFA's lead, one assumes they'd be logical and apply the ban equally proportionately.... Ah... The FA and logic... Yeah, never gonna happen, is it...?

Well we all thought that about the EFL ruling and then they cited Canada in the report (from what I can recall).

So yes, who knows.

[DellBlockH]

9 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

The Guardian stoking the fires tonight with an article saying that the FA could follow FIFA's lead and ban him for a year. Referencing the fucking Canadian women's team again.

This is the piece: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/13/tonda-eckert-southampton-fa-investigation-spygate?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

No real news, just speculation. As I've said before, Tonda has already been punished when the club was expelled from the play off final (no promotion bonus, no EPL salary etc). Anything more than a stiff telling off or suspended punishment would be outrageous both for the club and Tonda as an individual.

[Teamsaint1]

9 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

The Guardian stoking the fires tonight with an article saying that the FA could follow FIFA's lead and ban him for a year. Referencing the fucking Canadian women's team again.

Just wait till Polly Toynbee and Jonathan Friedland find out about Spygate.

[Toadhall Saint]

FA’s ongoing investigation- fuck me this isn’t brinks mat or the great train robbery. The FA are becoming more and more like Inspector Clouseau.

[disconnect]

11 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

The Guardian stoking the fires tonight with an article saying that the FA could follow FIFA's lead and ban him for a year. Referencing the fucking Canadian women's team again.

How have they not concluded and just said "they've been punished, case closed" sort of thing? Is this just dragging on due to relentless pressure from Gibbo / Boro again?! 

Just seems crazy when there's so much wrong with the world that something silly like a team (getting caught!) spying on opponents for a game is made to be the worst thing ever... 

[CB Fry]

1 minute ago, disconnect said:

How have they not concluded and just said "they've been punished, case closed" sort of thing? Is this just dragging on due to relentless pressure from Gibbo / Boro again?! 

Just seems crazy when there's so much wrong with the world that something silly like a team (getting caught!) spying on opponents for a game is made to be the worst thing ever... 

It's not the "worst thing ever" but it is bringing the game into disrepute etc. Elbowing someone on the pitch is not "the worst thing ever". Fielding an ineligible player is not "the worst thing ever". It doen't need to be for the FA to dish out a sanction.

He is going to be punished by the FA as an individual, just depends on the level of time / fine etc. 

It is nothing to do with Steve Gibson or Middlesbrough now. Just need to accept we got caught doing something stupid.

[Saint Pete]

1 hour ago, Toadhall Saint said:

FA’s ongoing investigation- fuck me this isn’t brinks mat or the great train robbery. The FA are becoming more and more like Inspector Clouseau.

It's pretty obvious they are going to drop their judgement just before the new season starts for maximum impact and so that the FA can get some headlines and be seen to be taking the matter "seriously" rather than it get lost during the World Cup. 

[beatlesaint]

16 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

It's pretty obvious they are going to drop their judgement just before the new season starts for maximum impact and so that the FA can get some headlines and be seen to be taking the matter "seriously" rather than it get lost during the World Cup. 

In which case Dragan’s legal team will have a field day with the double jeopardy ruling.

They hurt the club as badly as they possibly could by throwing us out of the playoffs and making us start the new season on minus points then to top it off they leave it all bloody summer and ban the manager on the eve of a new season after all the pre season work has been done!!!

Even the guilty have rights ya know.

Edited yesterday at 10:13 by beatlesaint

[Window Cleaner]

52 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

In which case Dragan’s legal team will have a field day with the double jeopardy ruling.

They hurt the club as badly as they possibly could by throwing us out of the playoffs and making us start the new season on minus points then to top it off they leave it all bloody summer and ban the manager on the eve of a new season after all the pre season work has been done!!!

Even the guilty have rights ya know.

Double jeopardy,res judicata etc have nothing to do with breaking the rules in sport.

Saints were thrown out of a competition. No action was taken personally against the main culprit of the affair and now it will be as likely as not. Don't think he'll get any sort of serious ban myself, 6 months suspended ban probably.

[Saint Pete]

56 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

In which case Dragan’s legal team will have a field day with the double jeopardy ruling.

They hurt the club as badly as they possibly could by throwing us out of the playoffs and making us start the new season on minus points then to top it off they leave it all bloody summer and ban the manager on the eve of a new season after all the pre season work has been done!!!

Even the guilty have rights ya know.

Problem is EFL punishment was for what the club did and the FA investigation is looking at the individuals behaviour including Tonda. So they will argue Tonda personally hasn't been punished yet. Our other problem is that we broke the rules and Tonda has admitted he was at the heart of it, so that limits our legal arguments against any punishments handed out, just as it did with the EFL investigation. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree that a further punishment that will affect the club's season is proportionate to what happened given that we already have a points deduction. It's just I'm not convinced there is much we can do about it if the FA do go full beans on Tonda, which I suspect they will, but hope I'm wrong. 

[Mr X]

2 hours ago, Saint Pete said:

Problem is EFL punishment was for what the club did and the FA investigation is looking at the individuals behaviour including Tonda. So they will argue Tonda personally hasn't been punished yet. Our other problem is that we broke the rules and Tonda has admitted he was at the heart of it, so that limits our legal arguments against any punishments handed out, just as it did with the EFL investigation. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree that a further punishment that will affect the club's season is proportionate to what happened given that we already have a points deduction. It's just I'm not convinced there is much we can do about it if the FA do go full beans on Tonda, which I suspect they will, but hope I'm wrong. 

He would have lost his job at any other club so can count himself lucky 

[Saint86]

50 minutes ago, Mr X said:

He would have lost his job at any other club so can count himself lucky 

In the only other case of any direct relevance to this - Bielsa kept his job after a worse offence, and then went on to win a fair play award and promotion 🙃

[James G]

4 hours ago, Saint Pete said:

Problem is EFL punishment was for what the club did and the FA investigation is looking at the individuals behaviour including Tonda. So they will argue Tonda personally hasn't been punished yet. Our other problem is that we broke the rules and Tonda has admitted he was at the heart of it, so that limits our legal arguments against any punishments handed out, just as it did with the EFL investigation. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree that a further punishment that will affect the club's season is proportionate to what happened given that we already have a points deduction. It's just I'm not convinced there is much we can do about it if the FA do go full beans on Tonda, which I suspect they will, but hope I'm wrong. 

The FA have had all summer. Banning him at the start of the season further punishes the club. Given we've had the equivalent of a 200m fine and points deducted, I think that's enough.

The case isn't rocket science, so it shouldn't be taking this long.

[Saint Pete]

8 minutes ago, James G said:

The FA have had all summer. Banning him at the start of the season further punishes the club. Given we've had the equivalent of a 200m fine and points deducted, I think that's enough.

The case isn't rocket science, so it shouldn't be taking this long.

I agree with you about the time taken, the facts of the case were pretty much all out in the open at the start of the summer, especially after Tonda and Solak's public statements came out. So no reason at all why it should have taken so long to reach a verdict, which in itself makes me nervous of what the FA may be planning and also suspicious that they want it to have maximum impact and publicity post World Cup and pre season. I'm a little surprised Dragan or someone else from the club hasn't publicly pushed the FA on the timescales rather than it appearing to be open-ended allowing this situation to arise where they could drop a big ban on him on the eve of the season leaving us right in the shit. 

I just fear that we don't have much legal argument to fight a further punishment that would hurt the club given that Tonda has admitted his guilt and hasn't yet been punished personally, but I agree a long ban would have a disproportionate impact on the club given the punishments we have already received. 

[tttdcs]

It seems the longer this goes on, the more likely it will be another shocking decision against us, probably on the night before the first game, and Mr Nivea will step up from the U21.

Edited yesterday at 16:24 by tttdcs

[beatlesaint]

6 minutes ago, tttdcs said:

It seems the longer this goes on, the more likely it will be another shocking decision against us, probably on the night before the first game, and Mr Nivea will step up from the U21.

Funny cos I think the opposite, the longer it goes on the more likely it’ll be a suspended ban or a fine…….. you zig, I zag 🤣

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, tttdcs said:

It seems the longer this goes on, the more likely it will be another shocking decision against us

Why does it going on longer increase the liklihood of that?

Edited yesterday at 18:24 by Matthew Le God

[saintant]

3 hours ago, Mr X said:

He would have lost his job at any other club so can count himself lucky 

No proof of that.

[Tamesaint]

29 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Maybe the FA has already decided on the punishment but Dragan has unleashed his solicitors and they are now in negotiation mode.

[trousers]

6 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

Maybe the FA has already decided on the punishment but Dragan has unleashed his solicitors and they are now in negotiation mode.

Assume Dragan's still got the Man City lawyer chap batting for us? 

[Oldandtired]

8 hours ago, Mr X said:

He would have lost his job at any other club so can count himself lucky 

You know that how? Oh hang on, you don't...

[Doctoroncall]

You can tell what side Louise Taylor is on in this guardian article. 
 

I wonder if Spors has a back up plan, just in case, of bringing in a cover manager or are the current coaching staff expected to take on the head coach responsibilities. 

15 hours ago, James G said:

The FA have had all summer. Banning him at the start of the season further punishes the club. Given we've had the equivalent of a 200m fine and points deducted, I think that's enough.

The case isn't rocket science, so it shouldn't be taking this long.

We still had to play Hull, so although the ultimate prize was worth 200m, it wasn’t guaranteed. The value generally used would be half.
It does make you wonder if the FA are erring on a more lenient approach as the season is fast approaching and it would be easy to impose the same punishment as the Canadian coach. 

[Window Cleaner]

14 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Maybe the FA has already decided on the punishment but Dragan has unleashed his solicitors and they are now in negotiation mode.

Negociating about what exactly ?

[obelisk]

2 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

the same punishment as the Canadian coach

That would be a 3 game ban and Tonda didn't even make use of drones so I'd expect less of a punishment than that.

[Patrick Bateman]

3 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

You can tell what side Louise Taylor is on in this guardian article. 
 

 

"Louise Taylor is north-east football correspondent for the Guardian"

 

Another spoon-fed goon journo 🤣

[EssEffCee]

32 minutes ago, obelisk said:

That would be a 3 game ban and Tonda didn't even make use of drones so I'd expect less of a punishment than that.

It wasn't a 3 game ban though, it was a ban for a length of time.

The amount of games played during that time is utterly irrelevant.

[trousers]

14 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

It wasn't a 3 game ban though, it was a ban for a length of time.

The amount of games played during that time is utterly irrelevant.

I think the point people are making is that if you're going to use the Canadian incident as a precedent, then the impact should be proportional. The impact of a one year ban on a domestic manager would be much greater than the equivalent duration for an international manager.

To me, it seems reasonable to want the impact of any precedent-based punishment to be proportional? (Not that the FA will care a jot about that aspect, of course)

Edited 8 hours ago by trousers

[obelisk]

16 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

The amount of games played during that time is utterly irrelevant.

No it isn't.

[EssEffCee]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

I think the point people are making is that if you're going to use the Canadian incident as a precedent, then the impact should be proportional. The impact of a one year ban on a domestic manager would be much greater than the equivalent duration for an international manager.

To me, it seems reasonable to want the impact of any precedent-based punishment to be proportional? (Not that the FA will care a jot about that aspect, of course)

I just think it's completely irrelevant. I can't see that football authorities will consider how many games they might be involved with when setting a length of time to be banned.

It's a ban of football activities, not a ban from however much activity your scheduled to do in your current job.

[trousers]

24 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

I just think it's completely irrelevant. I can't see that football authorities will consider how many games they might be involved with when setting a length of time to be banned.

It's a ban of football activities, not a ban from however much activity your scheduled to do in your current job.

Fair enough. Happy to agree to disagree (on how I think they ought to deal with it, not how they probably will) 👍🏼

Edited 8 hours ago by trousers

[pingpong]

20 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

I just think it's completely irrelevant. I can't see that football authorities will consider how many games they might be involved with when setting a length of time to be banned.

It's a ban of football activities, not a ban from however much activity your scheduled to do in your current job.

So if they'd been quick and given tonda a 2 month ban from June, you'd have thought that was reasonable / sensible? 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, obelisk said:

That would be a 3 game ban and Tonda didn't even make use of drones so I'd expect less of a punishment than that.

That's a point. We've had the amazing black box for a number of years. Why hasn't it got a fleet of scout drones hovering above the continent's training pitches? 

[capitalsaint]

2 hours ago, EssEffCee said:

I just think it's completely irrelevant. I can't see that football authorities will consider how many games they might be involved with when setting a length of time to be banned.

It's a ban of football activities, not a ban from however much activity your scheduled to do in your current job.

Aren't the football activities of a manager largely influenced by how many games they are involved with?

[ant]

2 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

That's a point. We've had the amazing black box for a number of years. Why hasn't it got a fleet of scout drones hovering above the continent's training pitches? 

The black box no longer exists.

[bugenhagen]

15 minutes ago, ant said:

The black box no longer exists.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

19 minutes ago, bugenhagen said:

Poor neo. Living in the only town without a spoons.