All Activity

This season, the team he was in got 39 points. Last season, it was 12 points. Progress!

The SFA found evidence at Thistle's training ground. But on inspection couldn't be sure if all the Tennant's Export cans belonged to a spy, the Thistle players or the local kids.

It’s an appalling rant. All over the place looking for scapegoats. No mention of Katrina rejoining the board, nothing about Dragans major court cases he has won. The complete lack of perspective and the omission of at least four potentially major developments says it all. A crap snowflake whinge fluffed up by crap AI. Get back in your box.

How about something like this.... He cheats, he spies, he tells a load of lies, Tonda Ton....da Tonda Ton...da! He cheats, he spies, he's got some crazy eyes, Tonda Ton...da Tonda Ton...da! He cheats, he spies, and Middlesbrough despise, etc etc

Let’s for one minute say that a punishment was deserved but that its proportionality was less clear cut. It was very clear cut to Gibson and his legal/media team when going public…so clear cut that the EFL and their Boro biased jury decided to not only expel Saints, but award Boro the place in the final. WTF?! Even if our expulsion is deemed fitting, how does that outcome sit comfortably with anyone? It’s tantamount to admitting to a very dodgy review process at best! Even knowledgeable neutrals are raising eyebrows. And if the review process can be considered tainted, the punishment must be placed at question - although Boro’s complete ineptitude in front of goal has thankfully somewhat addressed that particularly injustice.

Preferred

This whole thing has certainly been a fascinating insight into some of our supporters. From the beginning, they were creating their own narrative where the charges against us were no big deal and laughing at the "deluded" Middlesbrough fans who suggested otherwise; getting angry at Middlesbrough for having the temerity to catch us bang to rights spying on them; getting angry with the EFL for charging us with multiple clear breaches of the rules; railing against the bloody rules themselves; inventing their own version of the rules where if you don't win the games you were cheating on, it doesn't really count; spreading unsubstantiated gossip that our mysterious spies were not even employed by the club; convincing themselves that we wouldn't receive any meaningful punishment as it was all a media pile on orchestrated by Steve Gibson; convincing themselves that the only reason we received such a meaningful punishment was due to a media pile on orchestrated by Steve Gibson; dreaming up conspiracies where actually we were the victims of some kind of entrapment that forced us to spy; imagining that everyone on the independent panel and appeals panel were bought and paid for by Boro; clinging to a meaningless "Leeds precedent" from 2019 when the current rules weren't in place; banging on endlessly about other leagues that have different rules as though that invalidates the rules in the league we actually play in. An endless stream of denial, deflection, and whataboutisms. Incredibly, these people who refuse to believe anything think it's entirely credible that the manager who worked at two EFL clubs under these rules had no idea he was sending people out to cheat when he was demanding they dress up disguised as Eastleigh players so as not to be rumbled absolutely not cheating while spying on Ipswich at Eastleigh's training ground - and that even after the objections raised by the interns he was sending to spy he still remained unaware that he was systemically breaching the rules for six months. It's an endless twisting reimagining of reality as a coping mechanism. There must be something in the water down here: Icke, Le Tissier, Lambert, 51% of saintsweb. Makes you think. It's really not complicated. Tonda oversaw six months of premeditated rule breaking, ran his operation so amateurishly that the "big secret" was not just openly known throughout the club to the point that they were sending around doctored pictures of their analysts as spies for jokes, but also known by people outside the club, with damning evidence on their devices to share with whatever regulatory body as and when they so decided. And it blew up in our faces, spectacularly. One charge of spying became three upon closer inspection. I'm not sure we've got the full tally in yet. We cheated, we got caught, we admitted it - although the club pretty disgracefully first tried to throw a lone-wolf intern under the bus, and the manager tried to weasel out of any responsibility with a pathetic lie about being ignorant of the rules - we got punished. That's it. Was the punishment deserved? Absolutely. Proportionate? Less clear cut, but if you put yourself in that position, you've got no-one else to blame when it goes tits up. And the manager (and his coconspirators) put us in that position. That's just the reality. There is no version of the club's statement to move forward with "humility, accountability, and determination to put things right" that ends up with the arsonist who burned down the whole season remaining in post with a fresh box of matches.

We have Baz already. I am sure that there will be banter and chanting even if we have sacked Tonda.

I hear you, but any ruling they hand down from on high will almost certainly use those words. Quite what they had for evidence we don't know, but it clearly infuriated them, as part of Section 31 shows: It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine operations at the direction of senior personnel. It's almost as though we were hammered because we failed their "sniff test" (with their nostrils inflamed by Gibson's antics and a counsel who articulated those views), rather than because they had a sound legal basis for hammering us. It doesn't really matter any more, but it would be interesting to know how an appeal to a proper court would turn out. They might find that the decision was based more in umbrage than legality.

Oh, I dunno, there's every chance that we go this season without. I mean, what self-respecting Far East Asian Betting Syndicate 'Website' would want to be associated with us?

Very interesting. It's almost as though he wanted to get caught.

Surely they'll struggle to get significantly more that we did? He's in exactly the same boat with west ham as he was with us contract wise, except he now has back to back relegations on his CV. There was a rumour of a low release clause in the event they got relegated - hopefully that is not the case!

Is this true? I haven't seen the actual evidence for it as yet. "Bullying" (etc) wasn't a listed charge. The use of junior staff was a reprimand. This is the quote (below) that relates to it, it doesn't mention tonda - which, given he is named for other charges, is an explicit/interesting omission I would say. To me, that omission suggests that any evidence (if any) relating to pressuring staff / bullying is lacking and/or doesn't actually show tonda is guilty of bullying. Has it instead been added as a nefarious "doesn't this sound bad" to back up / hammer home the punishment without really being proven - because I cannot see any hard evidence of it? Happy to be wrong and shown it? It's feasible this could have been part of a plea style deal for Salt after the fact. The reality is that it is very likely he did the dirty on us after getting caught to save his own skin. The EFL had one oral witness (which is almost certainly salt), and 4 witness statements it total - and someone gave us up for the Eastleigh/Ipswich spying after the initial offence (and Ipswich weren't aware of it) - this cannot have been taylor. Boro only knew about Oxford from the start (on the same day salt rocked up at their training ground). Which we all know was very fishy anyway. The report appears to go on and mention salt (without naming him), and him saying verbally in the his oral witness statement that he felt under pressure. But this is oral evidence after the fact and initial charges, and from someone accused / admitting to wrong doing for the initial charges - it is seemingly not backed up by any messages (text/email) and it's essentially a case of "he said, she said". And frankly, he just isn't a credible witness at this point as he is basically saying whatever the EFL want to protect himself. So as above, I am happy to be wrong on this, but I haven't seen actual evidence that tonda bullied Salt into spying against his will yet 🤷. And yet the story from the media (and Blackmore has said this incessantly ) is that tonda bullied salt. It looks like a further trial by media, and people choosing to interpret the report to hammer eckert. But I'm afraid that in the "bullying" accusations, Eckert has to be given the benefit of doubt and be treated as innocent until proven guilty - and people, especially journalists, and club journalists in particular, should keep that in mind. Sadly it's been a witch hunt since the start.. In fact, it's all a little bit dubious that the report puts so much weight on oral evidence of a whislteblower (again, almost certainly salt - guilty of multiple incidences of wrongdoing himself) to justify such a disproportionate punishment after the fact... Whilst also the same report outright dismissed the oral evidence of our 4 witnesses when convenient. Thats a kangaroo trial in my book.

I think that while all of this is true - and I agree with it - it's hard to get one's head around the fact that all of this colossal damage has flowed from an intern hiding behind a tree with an iphone. The sheer dissonance of it all, rather than any blind eyes being turned, is probably in the minds a lot of those voting for him to stay.

Hilarious. Football? Integrity? 🤣

I'm astonished people think he should still stay on as manager. 100% he has to go. Not just because his position is untenable, but because ignorance of the law is no defence - and it's plain dumb stupidity that in this digital age when you can observe and analyse everything he thinks the advantage of getting an (incompetent) intern to take low quality video is going to help. He and everybody else should have known the risk-reward scenario. Yes, I think the punishment is totally out of proportion to the crime - but my business is brands and brand-building and I called this days before the final hearing that we'd be made an example of. It takes years to build a reputation and seconds to destroy it. Tonda, wittingly or not, has damaged our global reputation as a club for years to come. He has to go. Not just him, but everyone in the management team who was aware of it and did nothing about it. Them's the breaks. As my son and fellow Saints supporter says - I've used up my emotional bandwidth with Saints - they don't deserve my support. I've been supporting them for 57 years and this is lowest point of all. The fact we haven't sacked him already - cowards waiting for the FA to ban him and do it for us to save a few quid? - makes it even worse. No statements from the leadership, apart from what were obvious lies now: 'he was working alone as a lone wolf'. If we think we're going on some magical redemption arc with Tonda still at the helm next season and going on another long unbeaten run with the rags of whatever team we're left with - you're smoking stronger stuff than we get here in BC (and it's the best!) Naturally, if someone wants to re-post this next year after we've been promoted Champions under Eckert's leadership I will happily eat massive humble pie.🙃

Great read, that.

For all those who want Tonda to stay, look up Bev Priestman as a probable precedent.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-russian-moscow-reform-uk-danny-kruger-b1283574.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb "Nigel Farage’s claim that a Russian hack was behind the disclosure of a £5 million gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been described as “unsubstantiated” by a former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre.."

‘He’s going to get us promoted in 2027, We love him as our manager, we love him as a spy. He’s going to cheat the Boro and the skate bastards too. Our saviours Tonda Eckert we sing this song for you. Binoculars, Binoculars, Binoculars, Binoculars.’ TUNE OF THE CHAPEL SONG

Not just Saints fans thinking this...

It's not true. The article linked to says that "Southampton's board agreed on certain aspects of the side that needed to improve as they returned to the Premier League, with their displays defensively one key area that was addressed."

As a business you can’t let someone who’s actions have been effectively described as bullying of younger junior staff and led to the team being excluded from a competition to go unpunished. How can the club that said: ”The club will reflect carefully on the events that have led to this point, learn from them and take the necessary steps to move forward responsibly.” move forward without taking the steps of removing those responsible for the shame and embarrassment brought upon it.

Going to be fun thinking up a song if Tonda does indeed stay.

Tonda will divide fan opinion whether he stays or goes, and that isn’t good for SR or the fanbase. Assuming he goes Sport Republic have two options: 1) Alienate fans further by hiring another left-field nobody 2) Actually pay out and try and get a head coach/manager with a bit of experience that will rouse the players and fans I don’t have any real confidence in Sport Republic or their strategy, but based on the last four years it’s almost like they’re still trying to figure out what their strategy is too. But they need to get people onside. A year ago was shit or busy for them, apparently, but I can’t see Dragan Solak walking away from a £200m+ investment, I’d certainly be looking to recoup that money back.