Ups & Downs 25/26

[genome]

Either way, it's absolutely fantastic entertainment as an outsider. I think I'll go over to the Southampton forum in a bit just to see if they're still all banging on about how harsh it is.

I've seen a few actually quite angry at the club. Especially those who had to tell their young kids they weren't going to Wembley at the weekend

[John Madejski's Wallet]

They wouldn't be doing it at all if there was nothing to gain from it.

Didn't help in the other two instances did it?

So you've only gained an unfair advantage if you win as a result?

I would just like any proof that you get some sort of unfair advantage. I mean Christ almost every club's training ground can be observed by any random.

I'm aware i'm a lone voice here. And i'm actually enjoying it happening to Southampton, the pcunts

[Winston Biscuit]

being good at cheating or being bad at cheating really shouldn't make a difference

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Just think there are far worse cheating things that get far weaker punishments.

Also, you can't see sh*t from that tree anyway. I mean, they're just fukking idiots and the whole world is laughing at them


The smoking shelter at work has been interesting. Almost all the contractors/builders on our site are from either Southampton or Portsmouth. Has made for some interesting fag breaks

[WestYorksRoyal]

I don't get this "punishment is harsh" argument. Yes, the play offs are high stakes with huge financial rewards. And that's the competition they cheated in. They tried to gain an unfair sporting advantage to deny other teams in the competition the rewards available.

What alternative sporting sanction could possibly be fair?

[Dirk Gently]

Didn't help in the other two instances did it?

So you've only gained an unfair advantage if you win as a result?

I would just like any proof that you get some sort of unfair advantage. I mean Christ almost every club's training ground can be observed by any random.

I'm aware i'm a lone voice here. And i'm actually enjoying it happening to Southampton, the pcunts

You're arguing about whether the rule should exist or not.

But that's irrelevant. It does, and they broke it.

[Sutekh]

So you've only gained an unfair advantage if you win as a result?

I would just like any proof that you get some sort of unfair advantage. I mean Christ almost every club's training ground can be observed by any random.

I'm aware i'm a lone voice here. And i'm actually enjoying it happening to Southampton, the pcunts

You're arguing about whether the rule should exist or not.

But that's irrelevant. It does, and they broke it.

But any random probably doesn’t stand behind trees cagily holding their phone up and pretend they’re making a call.

Think it’s a justifiable outcome as it’s an entirely stupid thing to do, I mean they would have played ‘boro twice in the league and seen them in the other PO semi legs (not to mention they’d have had the ‘boro team sheet an hour before kick off in the final as well) so what actual benefit does it provide anyway.

Surely Saints owners should now be reviewing the continued employment of some of the staff there as it’s cost the club £££ in PO returns alone, let alone the bunce if they had been promoted.

Bet the Pompey message board is enjoying it all - perhaps Soton should have made out it was a Pompey agent in disguise…

[Dirk Gently]

Surely Saints owners should now be reviewing the continued employment of some of the staff there as it’s cost the club £££ in PO returns alone, let alone the bunce if they had been promoted.

I suspect that the FA will soon take that decision out of their hands and ban those individuals for a year.

[South Coast Royal]

On a personal level I have a few mates who are Saints fans.
They are annoyed and disappointed especially as the team had been on the up for the second part of the season but accept the decision.

I don't get the hate on here-they have had similar problems to us over the years with a vast array of owners including the dreadful ex-Reform and now Restore party leader Rupert Lowe.
There really hasn't been a rivalry between our two clubs and we have hardly played at the same level for over 50 years.

As for players moving between the clubs there has not been much success either way.
Tommy Jenkins and Michael Gilkes going there didn't work out and Paul Bennett and Steve Moran coming to us were hardly great successes but I am grateful for Johnny Walker who came on a free , captained our club and did well and I had the pleasure of getting to know him as a near neighbour in the late 1960s/early 70s-he also was a regular at the Mad Stad in the East Stand until his death a few years ago.

[Beaulux]

Either way, it's absolutely fantastic entertainment as an outsider. I think I'll go over to the Southampton forum in a bit just to see if they're still all banging on about how harsh it is.

I've seen a few actually quite angry at the club. Especially those who had to tell their young kids they weren't going to Wembley at the weekend

It’s overrated as an experience I’ve found

[Sutekh]

Surely Saints owners should now be reviewing the continued employment of some of the staff there as it’s cost the club £££ in PO returns alone, let alone the bunce if they had been promoted.

I suspect that the FA will soon take that decision out of their hands and ban those individuals for a year.

Did any Leeds staff get a ban from the FA?

[katweslowski]

I've seen a few actually quite angry at the club. Especially those who had to tell their young kids they weren't going to Wembley at the weekend

Tbf they can still attend

[katweslowski]

I don't get the hate on here-

Has there been hate? I haven't seen it. I have seen a few laughing but I don't think it's personal or in a snide way. I'd feel just as entertained by it all if it had been Preston, Bristol City etc

[Dirk Gently]

Surely Saints owners should now be reviewing the continued employment of some of the staff there as it’s cost the club £££ in PO returns alone, let alone the bunce if they had been promoted.

I suspect that the FA will soon take that decision out of their hands and ban those individuals for a year.

Did any Leeds staff get a ban from the FA?

No, but it wasn't a specific rule at the time. The precedent I'm going by is the Canadian women's drone incident from last year.

[Clyde1998]

I suspect that the FA will soon take that decision out of their hands and ban those individuals for a year.

Did any Leeds staff get a ban from the FA?

No, but it wasn't a specific rule at the time. The precedent I'm going by is the Canadian women's drone incident from last year.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the EFL rule came in because of the Leeds situation. In the Canada situation, the analyst; manager; and assistant manager all got year bans from football.

Incidently, did that Southampton intern may have committed trespass in order to film? Football training grounds are going to be privately owned land, which you'd need permission to enter.

[Dirk Gently]

Did any Leeds staff get a ban from the FA?

No, but it wasn't a specific rule at the time. The precedent I'm going by is the Canadian women's drone incident from last year.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the EFL rule came in because of the Leeds situation. In the Canada situation, the analyst; manager; and assistant manager all got year bans from football.

Incidently, did that Southampton intern may have committed trespass in order to film? Football training grounds are going to be privately owned land, which you'd need permission to enter.

This was all part of a golf club/country club etc owned by Steve Gibson's company, so it did have public access - although the lad had gone past a "No admittance" sign so it's a moot point.

I'd be surprised if they did - he's just a kid following orders, rather than a great spying mastermind, and it was his ineptitude that exposed it all in the first place.

TBH I feel sorry for him - just an "intern", which probably means he was getting minimal/no wages, and he probably thought he was getting great, bankable work experience with a football club but he ends up with a a massive black mark on his CV and maybe an FA ban. He's the real victim, never mind Hull or the Southampton fans/players.

[Clyde1998]

No, but it wasn't a specific rule at the time. The precedent I'm going by is the Canadian women's drone incident from last year.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the EFL rule came in because of the Leeds situation. In the Canada situation, the analyst; manager; and assistant manager all got year bans from football.

Incidently, did that Southampton intern may have committed trespass in order to film? Football training grounds are going to be privately owned land, which you'd need permission to enter.

This was all part of a golf club/country club etc owned by Steve Gibson's company, so it did have public access - although the lad had gone past a "No admittance" sign so it's a moot point.

I'd be surprised if they did - he's just a kid following orders, rather than a great spying mastermind, and it was his ineptitude that exposed it all in the first place.

TBH I feel sorry for him - just an "intern", which probably means he was getting minimal/no wages, and he probably thought he was getting great, bankable work experience with a football club but he ends up with a a massive black mark on his CV and maybe an FA ban. He's the real victim, never mind Hull or the Southampton fans/players.

I wasn't suggesting the kid should face charges or anything. As you say, he's the biggest victim. He could well have been told it's fairly normal for clubs to do it.

Just wondering more if he's been potentially pushed into effectively breaking the law simply to carry out his duties. Certainly suggests there's not the greatest culture at Southampton to actively encourage it.

[Vision]

If there aren't at least half a dozen Matt Le Tissier "It makes you think" memes related to this then football really has gone.

[PieEater]

I think the loss of trust in the whole management means they need to clear the lot out. There's no way the manager can continue, along with any staff who were party to this shambles.

I'd also suspect that because of the number of incidents they've actually admitted to - when they were caught - means they've probably been doing it for every match since Eckert arrived.

[Winston Biscuit]

Tonda Eckert authorised some of the spying in spygate as the commission found it was a plan from the top down at Southampton, and said they behaved deplorably towards junior staff