Tonda Eckert

[Saint86]

14 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Thing is he’s claimed he didn’t know it was against the rules, but yet an intern was sent to Eastleigh to spy on Ipswich and were told to disguise themselves in an Eastleigh kit. Pretty conclusive evidence of doing something we knew was wrong.

2 points on this.

Is that an actual fact that it happened re the Eastleigh kit - i.e., is it in the official record? There was a lot of rumour and media sensationalism at the time of the story breaking - but the official line seems to be that we were sent CCTV footage, not that we sent an undercover intern in Eastleigh training gear? If that was official there is no way the club could argue there was a confusion over rule breaking...

And as has been said to death - the scouting and analyst team are the ones responsible for conducting scouting and for any internal management of their team (or any bullying and coercive behaviour)...there has been no evidence in the official report which shows messages or communications from Eckert to the analysts. There were messages from members of the analysts team directly encouraging the junior intern (which could be argued as pressuring him). But as far as I am aware, that is what all the messages show? So no evidence of guilt for bullying against Eckert and he has never accepted responsibility for bullying?

I also find it incredibly unlikely that eckert micro managed the analyst team, he would have told them who to scout, what to watch for etc... but not specifics on when to do it, what undercover gear to wear, how to travel etc etc. They are a fairly  large team themselves that report their analysis into the first team 🤷

So all of that was down to the internal management of the analysts team -  they knew and broke the rules, and it's not a surprise the team head left promptly after this all happened (the only person to leave I believe).

Or put another way, the first team manager of a side playing and travelling every 3-4 days post the international break, didn't have time to do the micro management of the entire analyst team and it's management structure.

Edited 7 hours ago by Saint86

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, bpsaint said:

Why would Tonda care if Ipswich knew we were there if it wasn’t breaking any rules.

Numpty. If you genuinely don’t think what you’re doing is wrong why bother with a disguise, just let them in wearing normal clothes. It’s likely that anyone observing training that wasn’t meant to be there would have rightfully been challenged.

I would suggest that wearing an Eastleigh top to an Eastleigh home game is hardly a 'disguise'.

[Daft Kerplunk]

47 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I would suggest that wearing an Eastleigh top to an Eastleigh home game is hardly a 'disguise'.

 

47 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I would suggest that wearing an Eastleigh top to an Eastleigh home game is hardly a 'disguise'.

[Daft Kerplunk]

I feel given the severity of the incident, the FA should at the very minimum recommend a custodial sentence, and possibly lobby for the return of the death penalty.  That is the only justice Middlesborough, Henry Winter and so on should be prepared to accept.  Off with Tonda's head.  

[coalman]

14 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

I feel given the severity of the incident, the FA should at the very minimum recommend a custodial sentence, and possibly lobby for the return of the death penalty.  That is the only justice Middlesborough, Henry Winter and so on should be prepared to accept.  Off with Tonda's head.  

Let's just put Karen FC in the play off final now for next year. Saves all the unnecessary legal wrangling and media campaign at the end of the regular season.

[trousers]

5 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe that is true and I don't think it's as far fetched as you do to suggest that he wasn't fully abreast of the rules on spying given that it's not against the rules abroad. Like you I said I suspect he probably did know but I can also see a scenario where he didn't. 

A balanced viewpoint on the world renowned internet forum that is Saintsweb? Whatever next?! 

[Tom & Gerry]

As the EFL is the only domestic league in the world to have a specific law prohibiting spying I believe Tonda did not know that law. Did he know it was wrong, well that's a difficult question to answer. Having a disguise doesn't prove he know it was wrong, just that the opposition wouldn't like it and would try to stop it if they knew who was doing it. Britain has spies and they are good guys. Foreigners who spy against us are bad guys. In business if you find out information about your competitors  without actually breaking in to their premises your a good guy. It also seems that different cultures view things differently and in Germany it's just accepted as  information gathering. So a bit like a professional foul Tonda probably knew it was a bit wrong, but it's what you do.

 

 

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, Tom & Gerry said:

As the EFL is the only domestic league in the world to have a specific law prohibiting spying I believe Tonda did not know that law.

Bollox. He was an assistant manager in this league for a while.

Not knowing the rules is not an excuse.

[EssEffCee]

6 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Maybe that is true and I don't think it's as far fetched as you do to suggest that he wasn't fully abreast of the rules on spying given that it's not against the rules abroad. Like you I said I suspect he probably did know but I can also see a scenario where he didn't. 

Personally I'd find it more believable that he didn't know if this was his first job here but he's spent 2 years working in England for 2 different clubs so incredibly unlikely imo.

[Weston Super Saint]

4 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

Personally I'd find it more believable that he didn't know if this was his first job here but he's spent 2 years working in England for 2 different clubs so incredibly unlikely imo.

Unless they also participated in spying...

[EssEffCee]

Just now, Weston Super Saint said:

Unless they also participated in spying...

They may well have done but people there would have known it was prohibited so that would make it even more farfetched that they wouldn't tell him it wasn't allowed?

[Behind Enemy Lines]

18 hours ago, RedArmy said:

Fuck me

Gav’s being extra nice to Tonda on here to try and get his number one spot back! 

[hypochondriac]

24 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

Personally I'd find it more believable that he didn't know if this was his first job here but he's spent 2 years working in England for 2 different clubs so incredibly unlikely imo.

Maybe they did it at the other clubs. Or maybe they didn't and had never discussed it. Sounds like it has been pretty widespread .

[hypochondriac]

30 minutes ago, EssEffCee said:

They may well have done but people there would have known it was prohibited so that would make it even more farfetched that they wouldn't tell him it wasn't allowed?

Depends what role he had in it. I'm not saying he didn't know, I'm just saying it's not a totally fantastical proposition.

[sadoldgit]

32 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Unless they also participated in spying...

It has been said that it is widespread, whether it is or not, who knows? It could be that it goes on and isn’t a big deal amongst the clubs generally so perhaps he thought it wasn’t a major problem? Given that it is widespread abroad, it isn’t unreasonable for him not to worry about the consequences here. I think we can be absolutely certain that he wouldn’t have done it if he knew the end result here!

[bugenhagen]

Why does it matter how much he knew? Whatever he knew - we are never going to find out (maybe in a bio in the future), he is saying what the club/lawyers has told him to say. Even if he did or didn't know, or knew a little or whatever, it doesn't really make a difference.

Personally, I don't care. The crime he comitted does not bother me at all. It's just a thing because the punishment is so out of proportion (in my eyes).

Managers are sacked, and new managers are hired all the time. If he gets a long ban from the FA (and I believe he will just because it is us) then we just have to change the manager. It sucks, but we can't control it - the club has made its descision.

[Tom & Gerry]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Bollox. He was an assistant manager in this league for a while.

Not knowing the rules is not an excuse.

No it's not an excuse  it's an explanation. How many so called experts do you see on television commenting on refererees decisions don't know all the rules?

[tdmickey3]

10 hours ago, John B said:

It is nothing to do with what the players think 

Do you not realise he has proved to be  dishonest and people like you should accept that fact.

 

Still banging on I see, absolute bore

[AlexLaw76]

7 minutes ago, Tom & Gerry said:

No it's not an excuse  it's an explanation. How many so called experts do you see on television commenting on refererees decisions don't know all the rules?

A commentator is not bound nor obliged to know the laws surrounding the conduct of club managers and staff

[CB Fry]

2 hours ago, Tom & Gerry said:

As the EFL is the only domestic league in the world to have a specific law prohibiting spying I believe Tonda did not know that law. Did he know it was wrong, well that's a difficult question to answer. Having a disguise doesn't prove he know it was wrong, just that the opposition wouldn't like it and would try to stop it if they knew who was doing it. Britain has spies and they are good guys. Foreigners who spy against us are bad guys. In business if you find out information about your competitors  without actually breaking in to their premises your a good guy. It also seems that different cultures view things differently and in Germany it's just accepted as  information gathering. So a bit like a professional foul Tonda probably knew it was a bit wrong, but it's what you do.

 

 

You're going to secure Commonwealth Gold no problem with gymnastics like that. Top class.