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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.

Yep. Anyone who knew is complicit. Get rid, clear the club out of the lot, start again.

SR just get worse and worse. I cannot wait to see what they come up with next season.

Our starting point for next season needs to be staying up……..in the Championship. Can’t believe I’m saying that but that’s the reality. Forget the final, this punishment virtually condemns the club for years to come.

There’s so many questions that need to be answered: - who the fuck was our legal team that were so incompetent - why didn’t we get the best lawyers that money can buy - why did we admit to the other two charges - do the EFL agree with the draconian outcome? - we had trial by media. What connections does Gibson have to the three ‘independent’ barristers - how can this case be heard so quickly v the penalty (why didn’t we play the long game) - how is this outcome fair on Hull City This decision stinks of corruption at the highest order. Yes, we fucked up but throwing us out of the competition will set us back 10 years and will start many legal battles for all those involved. This has opened up a can of worms, and we the fans have been fucked over the most.

Build a bonfire... All of them must go.

I'm almost certain that there is no legal basis for players taking action against the club to get their contracts terminated. There would need to be direct breaches of contractual agreements such as unpaid wages. The club cheating indirectly harms the player, not directly.

Dragan couldn't sell even if he wanted to now. It's going to be like lighting money on fire, much like what his leadership has done to our club.

Was Spors the one that instigated spying and knew that if TE was appointed then he’d be happy taking that course of action to gain a sporting advantage? If so then it’s little wonder he was so keen to get him appointed

I want to see some balls and competence from a club that has demonstrated a complete lack of it over the last month. Put out a message that inspires confidence, hire a top lawyer and go after the EFL, show that we don’t roll over and except unreasonable punishments and tie them up in litigation

I feel the same.

I think that it’s natural to want to disown the situation. I do agree though, how can the club expect us to continue to spend our hard earned on tickets, shirts, beers etc. when what we’ve watched this season was essentially all for nothing. The silence from the club is deafening, they need to say something. I had thought silence projected confidence, more likely at his point sheer incompetence. SR need to go, we need a fresh start away from their chaos.

Got a bit emotional watching this I have to admit, for different reasons than I normally would.

Yeah I agree, they don’t give a fuck about the disruption. If the appeal is upheld, they’ve got to try and sell Boro our 38k tickets on Thursday and Friday. I just feel for Hull in all this, it’s a shit show. Putting a losing semi finalist back in is bollocks. It’d be absolutely ridiculous to overturn yesterday’s decision based on the disruption caused, but clearly we’d welcome it based on how severe the punishment is. What a mess.

Only thing I will say is that the argument of "they won't overturn it now, it's too disruptive etc" holds no weight. Throwing us out when we'd sold out, 4 days to the game, was disruptive and they still did it. You can argue that we have no chance based on what we did etc but to say they won't do it purely because it's too much hassle is wrong.

Think there are more twists and turns yet. It’s Wednesday morning, there’s an appeal Wednesday evening, I just can’t see that the losing semi finalists will be playing at Wembley on Saturday afternoon when their 38000 tickets have already been sold to the winning semi finalists, with the only legitimate finalists being punished by the shambles of the whole situation. It’s not right. I’m disgusted by the whole thing, angry with the club, but it doesn’t feel like it’s done yet.

I know it's still raw, but I'm honestly feeling like I won't even really be following the club from here on out. I'm thinking ahead to next season and trying to imagine watching the games or even checking the results and I just don't imagine myself giving a shit at all.

I’m obviously gutted about playoffs. But what really really hurts/makes me feel sick is the long term consequences, the ripple effect will be huge. - manager and staff sacked - no director of football - all of the players wanting to leave. - club reputation in tatters we will now be stuck in the championship doldrums for a long time (if we’re lucky). all for a totally pointless thing to do. Which gained us nothing. The risk v reward is inexcusable. Tonda great coach - but genuinely might have fucked the club for years and years.

The expulsion of Southampton from the play-offs is more than just an embarrassing sporting failure, it’s a textbook breakdown in internal controls and corporate governance. Basic compliance, oversight, and risk management procedures clearly failed somewhere within the executive structure of the club. At a professional football club operating at this level, there should be multiple layers of review to prevent exactly this kind of scenario. The fact it still happened points directly to incompetence or negligence at the executive level. Supporters, players, and staff are now the ones paying the price for failures made in the boardroom. Accountability has to mean something, and in any properly governed organisation, senior executives responsible for this mess should be removed from their positions immediately.

If the telegraph article is accurate, and we've got no reason to suspect it isn't at this point, then this is almost entirely on Tonda.

Lallana it is then…😳😉

TBH, It's desperately poor internal governance that's allowed Tonda and his coaches to carry on any suspect "spying" activities. The club exec's should have said - "sorry team, not allowed. Needs to stop immediately. " That's a failure of corporate governance, and those on the exec team, COO, CEO etc.. need to wear the responsibility - and lose their jobs as a consequence.

If it’s clear that Tonda made no direct instruction to sanction the spying then he should stay - I.e. I could imagine that the analyst team operate independently as a service to the coaching staff and report to Spors. Otherwise, yes, he should go.

A ban for Tonda aside, are players going to trust and respect him? Or even want to play for him? Are new players going to want to sign for him? Is he going to be any good now that he can’t cheat? I think the club needs to move those involved on asap and start to rebuild our reputation

Interesting reading through the thread. Many are saying sack Tonda etc., with others suggesting they’ll walk away from the club because of the ‘cheating’. The punishment is undoubtedly harsh and assuming the appeal is not successful, surely we the innocent supporters should feel a high level of indignation with the outcome? Surely now is the time to form a close huddle with the club and its staff in continued support and stick two proverbial fingers up at the EFL? “We will prevail” sort of position. When I look back over the stewardship of SR, I cannot help but reflect on one disaster after another. Lack of cohesive player and coaching appointments. Embarrassing season and relegation from the Prem. And now this, with potential further decline a result of sullied reputation, lowered morale, player departures and a further reduction of squad quality. If you wanted to fuck a football club over in a slow death process, SR have seemingly developed and executed the blueprint perfectly. Parsons head should role - he’s overseen much of the decline and his performance versus Gibson confirms his incompetence in a senior managerial capacity.