Saint86

4-0 to Saints. Its Tonda time!

It very clearly wasn't. A young lad went down to a training ground a day later than he was meant to, stood the wrong end of it with a crappy mobile phone (not professional spy equipment, not disguised in boro training gear), and all to try and see if Hayden Hackney was fit - and came away with the mistaken impression that he was. (Its up to you whether you accept the narrative that Boro were tipped off with they're former employee that we sacked, that whistle-blew to the EFL about being bullied, and who now once again works at Middlesbrough)... We then played Middlesbrough away under an almighty media shit storm, the club scrambling around trying to figure out how to respond, and the boro fans whipped up into a frenzy. Unsurprisingly, we got absolutely played off the park. So no sporting advantage obtained. Home game, we were still wrestling with the ever growing media frenzy going on off the field. I think its genuinely impressive that Eckert managed to deliver that playoff win with the pressure and scrutiny he was under. I think its a fairly safe statement to say that no team will ever win a 2-legged playoff semi (already a highly pressured occasion) under that level of pressure. Regardless of the mess he caused, Tonda's mental toughness and focus is beyond question for me. Regardless, the sanction imposed is of similar magnitude to expulsion from the premier league - because lets be blunt, we were at least 70% favorites to beat Hull. It was a ridiculously OTT sanction that was only became plausible because of the shocking way we handled the whole affair - like meek lambs to the slaughter allowing the rhetoric to ramp up and up and up. So yes, we did break the 72hour rule ("cheat"). But there are levels to cheating. Clearly, even a multi million pound fine and suspended points deduction was a more appropriate sanction - which is more akin to Chelsea's sanction for a far more egregious offence. Ayling trying to get Harwood Bellis sent off for made up slurs (and then cuddling him after the game) would have been a far more impactful level of cheating. Ditto someone diving for a penalty. You've been gaslit if you think what happened to saints was proportionate.

We've got Eckert! Tonda Eckert! I just don't think you understand.... He spied throughout the land. And wasn't even banned. We've got tonda eckert!!!

Give him a new contract asap or he won't be here next season - regardless of which league we're in. You don't let a manager like Eckert run his contract down.

He can't just be good at his job... no no... he HAS to be a cheat... the mental gymnastics of that lot will never not amaze me 😄

Appreciate the share on that one 23rd! Simon Jordan has by and large spoke a lot of sense over the whole thing - i think more than perhaps anyone else - and he largely stepped outside of the orchestrate media campaign that was whipped up against saints.

One group of unsung heroes in all this are the Saints fans that came out in those first few days to stand by Tonda and to gradually shift fan opinion back to rationality in the face of an almighty media war and orchestrated gas-lighting campaign that even had the club's media calling for Eckert to be sacked and grovelling before all and sundry (Blackmore ). A silver lining within all this is that the whole thing has managed to unify the fanbase and bring the club together - which will hopefully see us promoted with something like the core group and momentum (dare i say curve) of the Adkins era side.

Makes you wonder if the club will pursue legal action after the fact. You would think Eckert in particular has grounds for compensation after having his image trashed.

I believe it is these 3?

Extremely telling that the FA Panel's considered findings don't resemble the EFLs in any way shape or form. Its almost like the 3 championship clubs on the EFL board (Who pushed for the sanction - Hull, Middlesbrough, and Portsmouth - All of which anted Middlesbrough in the final) and an evidently not impartial EFL panel (with 2 of the 3 members linked to Middlesbrough) stitched saints up royally in May. As a minimum this should never be forgotten by the club.

Love and light mate

😄

Anyone want to wager if this is the boro rat? Also, this is the only mention of bullying in the report - i wonder if this opens up an avenue of legal recourse as clearly those chargers were trumped up to hammer home the EFL sanction and try and justify the decision to give both boro and the EFL their "final".

Somewhen better check on Blackmore at this troubling time...

https://fmttmboro.com/index.php?threads/eckert’s-day-of-reckoning.85933/page-14