EFL Playoffs 25/26 (Saints booted out of final and given 4 point deduction - pg34)

letthegoodtimesroll said:

I’d guess the issue for those involved is, if the FA considers they are guilty they will take action based upon those findings, which presumably means that if something else were to subsequently come to light after that they could then re-investigate and take further action. Making sure everything is disclosed from the start might have a better long term outcome for them. Obviously if that means there were other games for instance not already confessed to then the EFL would probably want to revisit the 4 points penalty already imposed. Pandora’s box may have well and truly been opened.

I think this is the big risk for Southampton. The FA will investigate to find out who was involved in the decision making, who did the spying, and whether the coaches were aware of how the information was gathered. Anyone involved will get a personal punishment. But in doing this, they’ll no doubt find out whether it was only three teams spied upon, or whether it was more widespread. That evidence will be in their report, at which point the EFL can visit any additional example, and they’ve set a precedent, 2 points for each infraction.  If this was systemic and frequent, they’ll be relegated before they kick off next season. 

Boro absolutely should take Soton’s place but they have been very fortunate to be in with a chance still.  Their run since March has been awful and Soton were the better team in the second leg.  I’m not defending the decision, I fully agree with it; merely pointing out that in terms of Boro’s end product on the pitch of late, they really are lucky to have a crack at going up 

Of course the spying may have given Soton some advantages re; understanding set play routines and how they may be setting up, but the spying didn’t materially contribute to the result.  

Killarahales said:

WRICURKINCAM said:

eastterrace6168 said:

gringo said:

Todds_right_hook said:

Bedsaddick said:

As much as it will benefit us , giving Southampton an increased points deduction after the punishment already received is just wrong . What have the fans done to deserve that ? Punish the individual culprits by all means . 

Individual culprits representing the club. It’s a club issue and the club should be punished

they should be punished for doing the "binoculars eyes" at other fans alone!

They'll be getting that back in spades next season and some...

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

“You’re not spying any more…you’re not spying any more”

Que sera, sera
whatever will be, will be
You didn’t go to Wembley
Que sera, sera

Makes me laugh when people ask about the managers involvement. I'm sure he would have been a key part in this whole thing. 

SomervilleAddick said:

letthegoodtimesroll said:

I’d guess the issue for those involved is, if the FA considers they are guilty they will take action based upon those findings, which presumably means that if something else were to subsequently come to light after that they could then re-investigate and take further action. Making sure everything is disclosed from the start might have a better long term outcome for them. Obviously if that means there were other games for instance not already confessed to then the EFL would probably want to revisit the 4 points penalty already imposed. Pandora’s box may have well and truly been opened.

I think this is the big risk for Southampton. The FA will investigate to find out who was involved in the decision making, who did the spying, and whether the coaches were aware of how the information was gathered. Anyone involved will get a personal punishment. But in doing this, they’ll no doubt find out whether it was only three teams spied upon, or whether it was more widespread. That evidence will be in their report, at which point the EFL can visit any additional example, and they’ve set a precedent, 2 points for each infraction.  If this was systemic and frequent, they’ll be relegated before they kick off next season. 

Did the EFL actually say it was two points for each separate spying incident? I don’t remember seeing that.

valleynick66 said:

MuttleyCAFC said:

Just of the top of my head, I started out our first game of the season against Watford. The usual scuffling in the box from a corner, Doc steps in front of the player scuffling with Jones who drifts beyond the far post totally free. The corner comes in deep which Jones heads back into the box and Knibbs puts it away. That was definitely worked out on the trainig ground and if Watford knew we were going to do that, they would have stopped it. There is an advantage knowing these set piece plans.

So how do you explain our lack of goals across the whole season? We didn’t practice any alternatives again? 😆

All part of the master plan, don’t practice scoring goals so the spies won’t be able to report back on how to stop us 😉

Big William said:

J BLOCK said:

Makes me laugh when people ask about the managers involvement. I'm sure he would have been a key part in this whole thing. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdepxek43gyo

Seems he was, not surprised tbh. Think this will run and run.

He will surely be made a scapegoat and fired for this.

On today's Football Ramble podcast, they were discussing the idea that some of the Southampton players will have a legal claim against the club. Logic being they had relegation wage reductions in their contract that would be reinstated if promoted back to the Prem, but they have been denied the opportunity to earn that increase through no fault of their own as they had no knowledge of the spying.

Not sure what I think of that, but it doesn't sound like an outlandish case to test in court.

So many potential things to unravel from this. I'm sure Oxford are looking at this and wondering what they can do, although their case would be weakened by the fact that the 2 extra points they could argue they may have won against Soton would not have made them safe. Imagine if they'd been relegated by a point or on goal difference though?

A team finishes on zero points, a team that won the Premier League 10 years ago suffers back-to-back relegations with the largest playing squad budget in the division, and now and team is expelled from the playoffs a few days before the final. Weird old season.

Even weirder that we aren't one of the clubs caught up in any of it - usually we are a prime target for these kinds of calamities!

This is appears to be premeditated cheating and no matter how amateurish the spying appeared I doubt the application of knowledge gained was. It seems very unlikely that these incidents were isolated and that there may be more to come. It’s fairly implausible that staff beyond the spy and head coach were unaware and I hope this is investigated. Any staff involved should be sacked and banned and the club should face further action and points deductions, if further incidents emerge.

My sympathy is for those clubs who were victims of cheating, not Southampton or its fans - Would we be sympathetic if we had been relegated knowing that five points were lost in the games against this team? 

Let’s hope City finally get rewarded next week! And why we are considering the possibility, how do Chelsea run £262 million losses??? 

These kind of issues strike at the very heart of our game. Zero tolerance!