01 Jun 2026 19:01:37
Really not sure how people can justify Tonda staying. The latest info to come out today is damning, the club's response is pathetic, and it all goes totally against the culture of this club.
I'm convinced this isn't just a three time thing. Why would we pick such seemingly random matches, also conveniently ones we can point to saying 'we didn't even win' in such a long unbeaten run.
The coaching staff have knowingly cheated, bullied staff, and then lied about it. Regardless of what issues people may have with the decision making process, we deserve what we got. If it was so ineffective, why bother breaking the rules at all?
Think things are going to get a lot worse yet.
Agree0Disagree0
01 Jun 2026 20:08:44
With respect, scouting such as what Saints did is common place in football all over the world. The implication that bullying took place suggests a systemic mindset from all staff members. Do you honestly think that the club employs bully's and cheats from the top down? This really has been blown totally out of proportion and the clubs staff and supporters are being turned into sacrificial lambs.
Their crime was one of incompetence bordering on farcical which they lied about to try and cover up their stupidity. Where else in any profession would such a severe punishment be dealt out.
01 Jun 2026 21:51:26
Yes it is commonplace, but no-one else has been caught doing it except us in the last seven years. We blatantly broke the rules, for which there is no excuse.
I think a bullying mindset may have grown from such a terrible 2024/25 season, people's jobs being on the line, and wanting to do whatever they can to start winning games. From that comes desperation, aggression, cheating to try and gain an advantage.
I really don't see any justification. We've knowingly broken the rules, expecting the sanctions to be minimal, totally underestimated the reaction - as have many fans it seems - and the club themselves are coming out saying 'it's not us, it's the people who caught us that are the bad guys'. Which is nonsense.
When the reward of promotion is so high, we can't expect a small penalty. Swindon were promoted then that was nullified and they were relegated a few years back. Juve were relegated for breaking rules. It's simple. Don't want to face any punishment, don't break any rules, no matter how minor the infringement may seem.
The league have to protect the integrity of competition. We snuck around spying on clubs even on the day of matches. It's not on. And the club and fans still don't seem to see the problem.
We've been rotten for years. I could take being bad at football, but I can't stand us trying to cheat. I'd appreciate if we at least admitted we'd done wrong which we still haven't, nearly a month on.
01 Jun 2026 23:18:50
Here, here SaintGGsy - it's shameful and the club response has been pitiful.
We've even got Tonda loyalists backing his corner.
Please trust me on this, what we've been convicted on and the offences which have been proven are poles apart.
Let's stop trying to defend the indefensible.
Sometimes, you have to make a stand for what is right and what is wrong. No one likes a cheat and no one likes a bully and for that reason, I'm out.
02 Jun 2026 01:48:12
This is what I have been saying.
Some people in here have blinders on and only see the performances we had.
Heads in the sand. Like there's no elephant in the room as to why those performances occured.
Sure I can accept that what Tonda was doing happens on some level more readily in his home country and sure maybe he was naive about it, however the second there is pushback against and Tonda starts forcing/bullying the people into doing it, is the second it becomes cheating.
Why? Because if you don't know something you don't know, but if people are rejecting it, then you go and find out from the people i.e. the board/the EFL ect, but Tonda DIDN'T do that.
There's zero naivety behind what he did and for me 100% was happening more than the few games highlighted.
His insistence on the spying be carried out shows his need for it. It's like being dealt am extra card or stacking the deal in your favour. It doesn't win you the game but you know more about the opposition than the opposition knows about you.
I've said all season about judging him next season anyway, so for that reason if he stays he stays. I'm intrigued to see wether he can have the team playing the same again, however I was already doubtful before the spying, based on it not being his team.
We're see.
02 Jun 2026 07:54:07
SaintGGSy/Miller/Lesleee, 2408, s response is spot on. We crossed a line, we got caught, we got severely punished. Draw a line under it. Everyone does it in football. Stick with the manager Leeds did and where are they now? In the Premier League trying to buy our best players!
02 Jun 2026 10:04:57
Solak interview leaves no question unanswered and I commend him for his frankness.
There is always going to be a division of thought between fans as to whether Tonda should stay or leave. The clubs owner has now made his stance clear on who will manage the team next season. Saints players/staff will receive unmerciful abuse from opposition supporters for many seasons to come irrespective of who is managing the team. For me the only question is does Tonda have the strength of character to block the noise out?
I can honestly say there are far more heinous acts such as Bribery, Blackmail, Money laundering, Tapping of players, Deliberate noise in teams hotels, Interference of motor vehicles, deliberate causing of injury, feigning/ diving every day in English football that go unpunished by the FA and EFL.
Some of those are criminal acts, is seeing if an opposition player is fit a criminal or civil offence?
02 Jun 2026 10:54:11
No doubting there are worse acts but we've still committed an offence and correctly been punished for it. The punishment was the harshest option, but it was an option which was on the table and we have to accept that.
Even after the latest round of releases we still aren't admitting fault and are trying to lay the blame with others. We cheated, own it, make the necessary changes and let's go again. It seems the club's stance is an us against the world siege mentality. Fine. But if no changes are made, that's how a club starts to rot.
02 Jun 2026 12:40:19
We will always have divided opinions over what should happen
But the club have spoken and given full support to Tonda
He clearly has the full support of the players or the owner would not consider keeping him
This has been blown all out of proportion
Let's all be excited about next season
I know we have a manager capable getting us off our seats and enjoying football
02 Jun 2026 21:57:05
This has driven a stake through the heart of the club and divided the whole Saints community.
There is a case to be made either way in terms of where you stand but ultimately it is right versus wrong. Sure, the penalty was brutal but football has a wider responsibility. It is a universal language which unites people from different cultures and for many people, it's all that keeps them going - looking forward to Saturday afternoon.
So the highly insincere and scripted messages released today are too little and too late to make a bean of difference to where I sit.
Blaming the intern is as low and as cowardly as it gets.
Shame on them
03 Jun 2026 10:33:52
There appears to be a lot of virtue signalling going on here!
Let's get on and look forward to next season!
I have no doubt all teams watch the opponents, they just don't and won't admit.
The punishment was disgusting and I have no doubt at all a certain Middleborough person was behind it.
As another has said, there are way worse things going on in football and the punishment is way less.
Surely 'cooking the books' to keep you within financial regulations is way more severe??
Especially as it enabled that team to have players they would otherwise not have.
So let's stop all this virtue signalling nonsense and be excited about the season ahead!
03 Jun 2026 11:40:48
Well said!
03 Jun 2026 23:56:30
Personally Rich, I don't see bullying a kid to do your dirty work is virtue signalling.
It is very err Saintly of you to be so forgiving but I can't do that. The men in suits win at the expense of the little people (in their eyes).
Yes of course there are worse things that go on in the game but the way our lot have responded is reprehensible.
Excited for the new season - really? Before the autumn is out you may well be less charitable.
Cynical, let down, angry yes - but this ain't virtue signalling my friend.
29 May 2026 05:00:20
Does anybody know what our net transfer budget will need to be next season?
We are fortunate to have about 30m+ in players out on loan (Ramsdale, Diaz, Sugawara, ABK)
Hoping that could cover year 1 to 2 parachute loss and to sign Peretz and Larin (ideally).
Reading we have a lot of unpaid transfer fees and loans to our parent club. Anybody know how much we need to sell before can replace like for like?
Agree0Disagree0
29 May 2026 07:46:47
According to transfermarket Leeds made net 115m GBP over 2 years in champ. We are at 75m now so 40m short of that or 50m to get Peretz and Larin in.
Jander or Charles 20m+
Ramsdale 18m
Sugawara 7m
Diaz. 5m
Bazunu and Larios (sales unlikely? )
ABK (already sold)
This would be actually be a good position, given the circumstances. But we may be in a different situation to Leeds and need more out.
29 May 2026 11:00:51
It's very early days to try and speculate as to players coming in and leaving. Ramsdale will probably go on loan again, Bazunu will stay because no one will pay any sort of fee for him. Don't think Peretz will sign, think West Ham will sign him. Stewart will be kept on the one year extension in his contract. I expect Bree to go to one of the 3 promoted clubs out of contract. We will not offer any of the other 7 players out of contract new terms and I expect us to sell BBD Sugawara Downs Scienza THB Charles Jander for a combined £90 which will pay off outstanding transfer fees owed.
I expect a big physical striker hopefully Larin, right full back to compete with Roeslev, another unknown central midfielder from Germany, young centre half on loan with option to buy. I think it's a huge season for Edozie Bragg Obrien-Whitmarsh Dibaga Robinson Williams Sesay and Oyekunle. We need 3 of those to regularly feature and make big contributions to the team. That would ensure financial viability for seasons 27/28 and 28/29 if we do not gain promotion season 26/27.
We are walking a financial tightrope.
29 May 2026 12:26:05
Thanks @2408
So looking at closer to 65-70m net transfer spend vs 50m then?
Hoping we can keep at least 1 of each:
Peretz and THB
Charles and Jander
Leo and Azaz
Stewart and Larin
Bree and Manning
Anything from loan players is a bonus
Big season ahead.
29 May 2026 16:42:20
We won't have very much to spend looking at the clubs finances. We won't have the luxury of a big established squad so that is why it's imperative that some of the youngsters come through. Spygate has cost the club in lost revenue/ value, assuming we would have beaten Hull, £110 mill in tv money and being in the Premier League plus position finished bonus plus enhanced value of squad .
Probably £140-150 next season.
Crazy when you put the offence into context!
26 May 2026 09:35:01
Hi Guys,
There are many posts on this site stating the team gained positive results by spying which is cheating. It is not an offence to observe a team in training up to 72 hours before the game. The Saints analysts have confessed to 3 occasions of breaching the above rule, Oxford December Ipswich April and Boro May. I am sure they would have quoted other occasions when pressed by the EFL whilst technically under caution and personal sanctions.
If all reported so far is true Tonda wanted to know any new formation of the newly appointed Oxford manager, fitness of the Ipswich players and the fitness of Hayden Hackney.
If that is correct and there is nothing else to be confessed or found out then he may well stay Saints manager. I don't believe the teams results since Tonda was manager were achieved purely by cheating. Saints had the best squad, on paper, in the championship and but for Will Stills total disorganised tactics the team would have gained automatic promotion.
As previously posted, I would like Tonda to stay if there are no other skeletons in the closet so let's hope that is indeed the case.
Any more proven breaches of EFL rules could well be punished by the FA and more worryingly the PFA.
26 May 2026 11:36:10
I was waiting for your opinion
Sanity. finally!!
Excellent post
26 May 2026 15:36:08
Very good post, well balanced.
Careful on the WS comments .
26 May 2026 21:35:30
After the anger subsides and the World Cup starts, I suspect more will get on the Tonda train. If he even wants or is allowed to stay.
We were playing great football, beating Prem sides and marching up the table. He made a rookie error thinking the punishment would be low. Given his age. I can forgive it, just.
Keeping him would be divisive but so would risking SR pick another manager!
27 May 2026 08:26:29
Guys, as you know I am well and truly in the keep Tonda camp, he is highly rated in Europe with a number of clubs not worried about a guy behind a tree with an iPhone.
The minute we make the mistake of getting rid of him he is going to be snapped up.
This is going to be our loss. From the fans posts I have been reading on various sites it looks like there is a growing surge in the keep Tonda camp.
27 May 2026 09:09:12
Agreed Chopper20.
What other manager getting Bundesliga and Serie A interest, who has beaten Arsenal and gone on a 21 game unbeaten championship run is going to come to us?
Of course, depends on whether the key players can forgive him and most of the fans.
Next year will be a competitive season with big sides like West Ham and Wolves down and big money behind Birmingham and Wrexham.
Bookies have us 8th for now. With Tonda, I say 2nd to 5th if keep half our best players.
27 May 2026 10:41:29
So true Saint, we have to remember we would not have been anywhere near the playoffs if it wasn't for him. He turned a dismal season into an exciting one.
On a different subject, our defence was turned from an unorganised rabble into a decent one. Was that down to Tonda or the change of goalkeeper?
27 May 2026 12:49:43
Chopper/SaintKick,
You're not addressing the elephant in the room every time you state your reasons for keeping him is because of the performances we had under him.
You're expecting him to carry on like he did, even in the best case scenario that's unlikely.
He won't be able to observe teams the way he was, which undoubtedly influenced his match preparation. Also, like I've been saying all season, the team that was never his, is going to be ripped apart. So not only will he now have to work with a weaker team he will have to establish a team the way Will Still did and any played he does identify will now be in two minds wether they want to be part of a club/staff with this could over its head.
This is the irrational views of fans that I've mentioned. We presume next season will be like the last one because of how well we did - however we never consider the variables behind that run and what the future will be without those variables and or a whole set of new ones.
I'm not saying there's not a chance he's capable of replicating it, as I agree he should be given the chance to see. But you have to close the book on the reasons from last season as they're all subjective.
For me its looking unlikely he can't recreate what he did, but it's more unlikely our board will find a suitable replacement, so he stays, we go again and see.
I think the most ugly thing though will be from our fans, if Tonda stays and result are bad, how quickly they will turn to anger for seeing spying was last seasons reason. Hopefully not.
27 May 2026 14:10:36
Hi Lesleee, I doubt any of us have illusions of repeating last season, I certainly don't. Our chance of promotion has gone I afraid. I take your point that it will be interesting to see how he could perform with a weakened squad. But that applies with any new manager. Whatever way you look at it we are mid table at best.
27 May 2026 20:53:39
May I say politely Lesleeee that your obsession that 'cheating' played a considerable part in the teams success, plus was behind our playing style
Is wrong
2408 posted a very level opinion and as usual, with much knowledge of events.
Basically it's the only league in the world that has a spy on your opponents rule, and the added rider within 72 hours.
So would you be happy if Tonda agreed that he spied on 30 teams but 27 were 80 hours before the game and 3 were within 72.
He is a great manager, tactically a genius, best of all he has us playing entertaining football.
You want him to stay too, so let's big up Tonda!
I actually think the players are having little chats among themselves, to their families, saying. we love it here, we love the Manager, we love the way we are playing.
Let's go show the world we can do it all again.
I think the goalkeeper might stay
The only one is scienza who was never going to stay anyway.
COYR
27 May 2026 23:20:16
To say Tonda is a tactical footballing genius is a stretch and some.
RM had an impressive run too and there's no way he could be described as a genius.
I've thought about the many comments and opinions on this forum and I haven't changed my mind - he should be sacked. I don't buy into this boyhood over enthusiasm as mitigation for damaging the reputation and standing of our club.
He got caught - plain and simple. Did his pathetic attempts to gain an advantage work - no, I don't think so. But we are bang to rights.
Even if he gets through this, he will be sacked some day, as all managers are.
Please remember too, on that run we rode our luck well, and we came from a low starting point. So measured praise is due, but let's turn it down a bit - if he's a genius, what on earth is Pep, or even Frank Lampard come to that.
I admire your loyalty, but the club has not earned your forgiveness yet.
How difficult was it to explain to my 6 year old grandson that we were no longer going to Wembley - he had already had the GK kit for his birthday ready to wear on the big day out. Replicate that thousands of times over for all our fans and families and you will appreciate the impact this had.
Forgiveness has to be earned and that won't come easy for the schmoozers in the suits.
28 May 2026 06:56:02
A lof of excellent comments on this thread, from people I respect to the utmost.
Fans are right to be angry, especially those taking kids and who came a long way. Taking away all that hope and smearing our good name hurts. I felt with 5 smart additions we could have reached 10th-15th in the PL and now anything could happen.
Tonda had us top on form since he took over and playing exciting football. Will it be that easy with strong teams around us, a weaker squad, a point deduction and without spying. No it won't. My gut says 2nd to 5th vs 1st but that could be optimistic. Bookies have us 8th.
He needs to grovel and rebuild relationships and our reputation with players and fans. If he was a 50 year old Brit I would say out the door but given his background, youth and potential, I am open to a redemption arc.
Missing piece is what the players feel. If we keep half of THB vs Peretz, Shea vs Jander, Azaz vs Leo and Stewart vs Larin, I'd take it.
28 May 2026 08:20:08
Hi guys, miller I get you and your grandson were gutted missing the final, my son and grandson were also gutted but like you I believe they were at the Man City match and that is a day they will never forget, they played out of there skin and so nearly won.
And who got us there. I urge all posters to read the ugly inside article titled ' A thank you to Tonda Eckert ' they are my sentiments exactly.
28 May 2026 19:10:38
Tonda has to stay imo. We aren't getting any better manager or coach in the near future. But I'll guarantee the players or majority of them want and will play for him. A winning manager is a winning manager and winners will gravitate that way. Anyone who wants him gone has to grow up and realise that everybody is cheating in one way or another, it's business.
Anyway, I'm hoping Tonda stays, less players than the doomongers think will leave and we'll get some winners in because they want to win and Tonda is blatantly a winning manager.
29 May 2026 19:21:03
I wanted Tonda to stay, buI think I think to really "move on" - he just can't be the face of any rebuild to reputation
