TSP 382
😬 Saints’ failed appeal
🤐 The club’s silence
❓ Any way back for Tonda?
🔁 Who stays, who goes this summer?
🏆 Hull beat Boro at Wembley
@martinstarke | @SteveGrant1983 | @L1minus10 | @rees_julian
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Well that was a long summer break 😂
Finally, Tonda has spoken! As has Dragan Solak, so we're back to talk about the two sit-down videos released on Monday.
Join us LIVE!
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https://t.co/iuzNuXy6Fx
Saints Women's captain Atlanta Primus among seven players leaving the club this summer. Primus, Tara Bourne, Aimee Palmer, Kiera Sena, Isabel Watts, Ella Pettit and Esta Roberts will all depart. Saints remain in talks with Rachel Brown and Milly Mott over new deals.
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Principal partners P&O Cruises have issued a statement to confirm they will be continuing to sponsor Saints as normal this season. It reads: "P&O Cruises is deeply rooted in Southampton, and recognises both the challenges and the triumphs…"
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https://t.co/3yqD9sGhp3
Middlesbrough fans can jog on. They got the spygate result they wanted, we got thrown out and they played the final.
Coventry fans can really jog on. Absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them.
🚨 Saints owner Dragan Solak confirmed Phil Parsons, Johannes Spors and Tonda Eckert will work "all together" to win promotion next season, as he promised to deliver a competitive team and that "excitement will run high at St Mary's."
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https://t.co/q4XtxoRQ73
At least it’s someone prepared to show some leadership and justify decisions. I don’t agree with keeping him but I do agree with the part about us being punished enough and we should be able to sort out our own internal stuff.
I wonder if FA ban now more or less likely #saintsfc
🚨 Saints owner Dragan Solak has told BBC Sport that he won’t sack Tonda Eckert. He said: “I think he deserves a second chance and I would give it to him. My full support would be behind him actually, because I think he's a super-talented manager."
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🚨 Saints statement on release of the failed appeal hearing written reasons: “Southampton Football Club notes today’s publication by the Arbitration Panel of the written reasons behind our unsuccessful appeal of the sanctions the Disciplinary Panel previously imposed on us in the EFL proceedings. We accept that the club breached the relevant regulations, and we recognise that the disciplinary bodies were entitled to conclude that proof of sporting advantage was not necessary in order to establish a serious offence.
“The club accepts that aspects of our initial response to the situation were not treated with the level of scrutiny they required at the time. In hindsight, we wish this had been managed differently from the outset and this represented an error of judgement for which we take responsibility. Despite this, we are happy with the way in which we admitted the charges and offered our full cooperation and honesty once the formal EFL investigation process had started.
“We also note that the club was judged against the very highest standards of integrity and good faith. That is entirely proper. What is harder to accept is that similar scrutiny does not appear to have been applied to the composition of the disciplinary panel itself, given the apparent historic and indirect connections of two panel members to Middlesbrough. While those connections do not by themselves prove bias, they plainly raise legitimate questions about consistency, perception and the standards of independence expected in proceedings of this magnitude.
“The club is also concerned by the weight placed on assertions that junior staff were pressurised into involvement, when some of the most serious allegations appear not to have been supported by direct evidence. That said, junior employees should never have been placed in a position where they felt under pressure, and the club accepts responsibility for that failure of leadership and oversight.
“This case has ultimately been decided on the basis that breach and attempted breach were enough, regardless of whether any sporting benefit was actually obtained. In fact, at no stage was there any finding that the club actually obtained any sporting advantage as a result of the conduct in question.
“That is a severe interpretation, but one the disciplinary authorities were entitled to adopt under the rules as written.
“Southampton Football Club will now reflect carefully on the published reasons, review its internal processes and ensure that governance, oversight and decision-making procedures are strengthened as a result.
“Our responsibility now is to acknowledge what has happened, take ownership of the lessons it brings, and use this experience to strengthen our judgement, discipline, and integrity moving forward together as a club.”
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WhatsApp messages revealed the extent of the Saints spying operation on three opponents during a failed appeal hearing over their expulsion from the Championship play-off final last month. Evidence of attempted concealment didn't help case.
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https://t.co/MZAIWxDjp3
Have to say, I’m not impressed by this statement. If you’ve got issues with panel, they should have been raised at time. I expect more to come in terms of communication, but yeah... would also like to know how club sent a misleading first response. Sure not deliberate.
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