The outcome of the FA investigation and the independent commission's report and sanctions, actually makes a lot more sense the more you look into it and after (skim) reading the documented reasons. In the end the Commission decided that Tonda (himself) actually did very little wrong; they specifically dismissed the idea that the EFL had come up with, that he had coerced or bullied junior staff (for which the Club received a reprimand from the EFL, something that tends to get forgotten, it was the 3rd part of the punishment, after expulsion from play-offs and points deduction). They found no evidence to support this, or at least dismissed the sketchy evidence of the EFL enquiry. So, this left the 3 "spying" related events, none of which we need to be reminded Tonda was directly involved in. (1) the most serious, Middlesbro, he asked someone to find out if Hayden (?) was training or not, he did not ask for a video of their training or any update on tactics, really the analyst could have just taken a look and messaged back "yes, he's training", no one would have been caught filming or spying. the analyst clearly overstepped the mark, with good intentions no doubt. (2) Ipswich, Tonda appears not to have been involved at all, but when he was offered the chance to view the video he agreed to view it, and dismissed it swiftly as of no use anyway (because they had finished preparations for the game). (3) Oxford, which was very soon after he got the job, he simply wanted to know whether they were training with 4 or 5 at the back because the new manager had taken over. So there is really very little evidence that Tonda himself did much at all, but being a good manager (small m) he has effectively taken the blame on himself to protect his staff, as any good man manager would do, and I suspect he has also taken the blame to protect his "superiors", who frankly must have known what was going on and should have done what Tonda did and taken the blame.
So, in summary most of what was done wrong was done by "the club", either by omission (not ensuring Eckert was aware of rules for instance) or by junior staff working off their own initiative. The Club have (justifiably) been punished, and maybe heavily so. My view is that that is where the blame lies for 95% of what happened, the Club not Tonda himself, and therefore the punishment from the FA (or the Commission) is justifiably "lenient", notwithstanding that the supporters, the players and the Club had been punished enough, there was no justification for throwing Eckert under the bus with a long ban that would have ended his career at the Football Club.
It may have taken a long time to get here but it seems like the right outcome. I don't think we were lucky, I think its the logical outcome of a fair process by the FA, and it seems the Commission have serious doubts about how the EFL conducted their process, maybe that will have legs in the future, but we will probably never know. Pretty sure the FA won't appeal the judgement or sanction.
Now, all that remains, stuff the Skates on Sunday.
