Geoffrey Day @GeoffreyDay16 - Twitter Profile

🚨 The League Arbitration Panel's full written reasons on #SaintsFC spying on Ipswich Town in April: "The Club was scheduled to play Ipswich in a home fixture on the evening of 28 April 2026. In preparation, Ipswich trained at Eastleigh Football Club (“Eastleigh”) prior to the match. The evidence before the Commission was that Southampton and Eastleigh had a close working relationship. "Mr Eckert’s evidence before the Commission was that he had understood that someone from Eastleigh had sent CCTV footage of the Ipswich training session to someone at Southampton, the existence of which he (Mr Eckert) knew only a couple of hours before kick-off. After a short while, he asked for it to be switched off, so he could concentrate on the pre-match meeting. He said the footage showed nothing of influence, and he made no alterations to the match preparations which were in any event complete by that time. "However, it was Analyst 1’s evidence that the Assistant Coach (one of Southampton’s First Team Coaches) told him that Mr Eckert had said at an earlier match preparation meeting that “someone should go to Eastleigh to look at Ipswich”; and the Junior Analyst Intern said he was approached by the Assistant Coach to go to Eastleigh to watch Ipswich “as the boss is adamant that someone needs to go”. The Junior Analyst Intern felt uncomfortable doing this and said, “No”, and no further pressure was applied for him to go. "Analyst 1 also felt uncomfortable: he said in his evidence that he grouped himself with the younger members of the analysis team who were being pressurised into carrying out observations, and he felt pressurised himself. Furthermore, at the time of the Ipswich match, he was attending a UEFA Coaching Course. So, he did not go to observe the Ipswich training session either. But Analyst 2 called him when he was at that course, saying the coaches were insistent that someone should go to Eastleigh, and Analyst 1 called an Academy Analyst Intern who had worked with Eastleigh before, and he said he would go. Analyst 1 asked that he be provided with Eastleigh kit and a legend, i.e. what his supposed “role” was at Eastleigh. "The Junior Analyst duly went to Eastleigh and observed the training sessions. Someone at Eastleigh video recorded the whole session on the morning of the match, this was sent to Southampton. From that footage, the Club was able to predict the exact Ipswich team for the fixture."