saintant

Spot on. How it turned from a bit of a joke into the full blown maelstrom stirred up by some of the press, pundits and Gibbo was nuts and came out of nowhere.

I'm expecting either a 2-4 match ban or they may go 3 month ban suspended for 2 years. Either way there will be a hefty fine to help pay the FA expense accounts which I suspect are not small beer, no pun intended.

All seems quite low key at the moment. Quite a few articles and interviews are saying Tonda should receive a mild punishment. Nothing too aggressive coming out so presumably Gibbo has decided to muzzle his attack dogs in the press and world of football punditry this time. Hope it's not the calm before the storm.

Not to mention the 4 point deduction applies to this season 🙂

Maybe there weren't any other offences. If there were and he had evidence I'm sure they would have been included on the original charge sheet.

A voice of common sense amid a wilderness of over reaction and vindictiveness.

I agree to a large extent but think it is still worth highlighting that Boro were not whiter than white in this whole affair yet nobody ever questioned them and, as far as I know, they were never asked to account for some of the valid points raised by many Saints fans. I get that they weren't accused of anything but it's hard to work out how they moved so quickly without some form of inside knowledge.

Did Parsons actually say this at the fans forum? I'm not disputing it because I wasn't there but I've just watched it back and didn't hear this comment. Maybe it was edited out at the time or has been since but the version I've just watched on line didn't contain this comment from Parsons.

Good post especially the stuff about the speed Boro were able to identify Salt and come up with the names of other sides we'd spied on. They built their case very quickly but then, they had to, because the Play Off Final was just around the corner. Stinks to high heaven.

Doesn't suit their agenda. Gibbo seems to have a lot of sway with them.

That's how I think it unfolded. Not excusing us but there are questions marks against Boro in all of this.

And a handy reminder that the Boro club photographer was carrying a powerful zoom lens at a training session and decided to reel off a few long range snaps of an unknown geezer stood by a tree with an I-phone. This in a public place where there is a hotel and golf course so clearly not unusual for people to be visible.

I'm wondering if we'd sacked Tonda back when spygate first reared its ugly head would the FA have pursued their case against him? Yes, he'd have been out of the game but he'd still committed the crime so I guess the answer is yes they would have.

Let's be realistic here - it is not going to be a touchline ban. It will be a number of matches or months total ban and probably the latter.

Which begs the obvious question, why wasn't Bielsa made an example of to stop this happening again?