By Graham Hiley.
It was always a long shot that Saints would manage to overturn their severe sentence for spying. The big question is what happens now that their appeal has been dismissed?
There is no further challenge, no remaining legal option. The club has been kicked out of the Play-off final which will now be between Hull City and Middlesbrough.
The club argued furiously that the punishment far outweighed the crime of watching opponents train less than72 hours before a match. And with some justification although the multiple offences probably proved critical.
They even brought in Manchester City’s lawyer Lord Pannick at the last hour to try and argue that expulsion from the Play-offs and a four-point deduction was off-the-scale excessive – a Pannick measure if ever there was one.
It failed, leaving Southampton at the most serious crossroads in their history. So, where do they go from here – apart from back to the slog of the Championship with a four-point handicap?
A lot of things need to happen very quickly if the club are to have any hope at all of rebuilding any kind of rapport with the fans who have been let down so badly.
I firmly believe that anyone involved in any way in this sordid saga must be sacked. By the sound of things, that is likely to include manager Tonda Eckert who is reported to have said watching the opposition train is common practice on the continent so he didn’t know it was against the rules.
If that is the case, why did the spy at Boro apparently have a change of clothes handy? And why did the observer watching Ipswich train at Eastleigh’s ground reportedly dress in full Eastleigh club kit?
Please tell me he didn’t dress as Santa Claus before we played Oxford on Boxing Day!
If that means a clear-out of the entire analysis department and even the coaching staff, then there will be few tears shed among the supporters. Anyone who condoned what was going on should be out the door.
There is a strong feeling among the fans that should include the owners Sport Republic who have overseen two dismal relegations, a string of poor managerial appointments and now the darkest day in the club’s history.
Instead of looking forward to the prospect of promotion to the Premier League, the supporters are left angry, hurt and humiliated.
The club crest they wore with such pride at Wembley against Manchester City less than a month ago is now a badge of shame, sullied possibly beyond redemption.
Certainly, it will take a very long time for the club to regain the trust and respect of the loyalists who have to go to work or school and suffer a torrent of taunts.
In a carefully worded statement, the club said they will respond “with humility, accountability and determination to put things right,” (you can read the statement in full here).
They need to say so much more than they have done so far. There needs to be total transparency with an honest account of what happened, who knew what and when and how on earth they will make full reparations to the supporters who are still in a state of shock and disbelief.
I’m not talking about full refunds because that is a given. And it must include booking fees. The club should not make a penny from this debacle; arguably that should include the home leg against Boro.
How are they going to make amends to parents who have had to explain to their children that they are no longer going to Wembley?
How are they going to regain any kind of trust and self-respect not just with their own fans but throughout the game?
How are they going to persuade people to renew season tickets and memberships after seeing their dreams and self-respect shattered?
How are they going to be able to keep their stars who will inevitably look for a move with reports that some are already examining their contracts to see if Saints have breached them. If so, there is a chance they could be lost for nothing.
Either way, there will be a mass exodus of talent. And you can’t blame them. They will be feeling as angry and as betrayed as those who cheered them so passionately.
If those same fans now desert in droves, it is no exaggeration to say the club now face an existential crisis – and the next few days will be crucial.
It is hard to know what they can ever do to in any way begin to put this right but open and honest communication would be a start instead of PR-driven corporate statements which mean nothing to the average supporter.
Yes, they are right to feel hard done by; this brutal blow is way too extreme. And if this was always going to be the penalty for becoming the first club to be caught breaching this new rule, then the exact punishment should have been laid down in print – if only for clarity.
This murky mess has somehow let Middlesbrough back into a competition they had been knocked out of. With Saints excluded, the only proper course of action should be to promote Hull automatically.
But then that would cost the EFL millions in gate receipts and broadcast rights for their big showpiece event which, weirdly, will now kick off an hour earlier – another callous disregard of Hull fans who would already have booked their travel.
If Hull lose the final, they would surely have every right to argue they have been disadvantaged by spending 10 days preparing to play Southampton only to find the opposition has been changed at the last minute. If it helps, we could let them have our notes?
Saints fans will almost certainly be cheering for Hull in the final though probably very few will be able to bring themselves to watch a game thinking of what should have been.
However aggrieved the club might be feeling right now, that is nothing to the pain and shame the supporters are suffering. This is going to hurt for a very long time.
Graham Hiley covered Saints for the Southern Daily Echo from 1988 to 2001 and then became the club’s managing editor until 2008. He now teaches Sports Journalism at Southampton Solent University and is a season ticket holder at St Mary’s.
* Image shows Saints Vs Hull.
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