By Steve Keites.
Loyal Saints fan Steve Keites reflects on where he believes his beloved club should go from here.
I watched my first Saints game on the 8th February 1986 at the Dell against Luton Town.
Legendary players like Shilton, Wright, Holmes, Moran, Case and Danny Wallace were all in the line-up that day but it couldn’t prevent a 2-1 Luton away win.
It was a painful start to life as a Saints fan but now, some 40 years later, that pain has never felt worse after the Spygate 2.0 situation saw us kicked out of the Play Off final. Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past 10 days you’ve probably heard a bit about it!
To say I feel cheated and angry would be an understatement. As I sit and write this I’m half watching Middlesbrough take on Hull City in the Wembley showpiece – a game we Saints fans should have been attending. In fact, like most of the 36,000 Saints fans who had sold out our allocation, I’m still waiting for my refund (plus booking fees). I should be there with my kids now watching our heroes in red and white not those snitches from Middlesbrough. After all, no one likes a grass!
Tuesday 19th May will now forever feel like the darkest day in our clubs 141 year history – an apparent independent and completely neutral commission deciding on the highest possible sporting sanction ever inflicted on a football club worldwide in my opinion. I can’t comment too much on this for legal reasons but in my opinion this three person panel may have been heavily Boro influenced and anything but neutral – with one member even an ex Boro player!
The Championship play off final is not just any match either; it’s considered the most valuable single football match in the world as a result of the increase in revenue from sponsorship and media agreements of around £200 million minimum.
But I’m now adamant the game shouldn’t even have been played and that Hull City should have been given a bye to the Premier League. Middlesbrough and their legal buddies should have been nowhere near Wembley. Sadly that was never going to happen given it’s the EFL showpiece and the amount of money it generates.
Saints and our manager Tonda Eckert have been found guilty of cheating and if we were still there playing the final it wouldn’t have felt right given all what’s come out from the investigation – especially if we had won and I’m sure we would have beaten Hull.
So the questions are now who else other than Eckert knew about the spying? Was sporting director Johannes Spors involved? And should anyone involved now be sacked?
I must admit at first I was a bit torn on this – Eckert has been our best manager in years, taking us from 21st place in November when we flirted with the relegation zone, to a 4th place finish on the back of going 21 league matches undefeated. After all, Leeds Utd never sacked Bielsa after the original Spygate in 2019. Instead they stuck with him, backed him and earnt promotion the following season. He still has hero status with their fans to this day.
So could and should Saints now do the same? Personally, I don’t think so. Things have moved on since 2019 when the spying rules were not actually in place. What Eckert and his analysts have done is effectively cost us a 50/50 shot at the big time. With his decision to spy on Boro, Ipswich and Oxford that we know of (I suspect there were others) he has made the season the ultimate road to nowhere.
All of the money I’ve spent travelling to matches, on tickets, hotels, food and drink, not to mention buying the shirts for myself and all my kids has cost a small fortune.
But this season has ultimately been for absolutely nothing. It’s been like buying a ticket for the best rollercoaster at Disneyworld that then stops at the top before it goes loop the loop. Or buying an Oasis reunion ticket but then seeing Noel and Liam walk off stage after only half the set list has been played.
Cheated is the only word. We as Saints fans have been cheated by Tonda and by our club.
The owner Dragon Solak now has a huge role to play. He flew into the country from Serbia on Thursday to launch his own internal investigation. At the time of writing Tonda and his back room team are all still employed by the club.
For me now the only thing that can happen is that Tonda and whoever else was responsible have to go, as their positions are now untenable.
With rumours that some Saints players will now potentially sue the club for loss of earnings and promotion bonuses, Dragon is going to have deep pockets to keep them happy and help fund another tilt at promotion.
The likelihood now is that this team that I’ve loved watching this season will now break up. Star man Leo Scienza has plenty of Premier League suitors and has earned the right to play at the top level, and at 28 no one would begrudge him a move. Taylor Harwood-Bellis has had an outstanding second half to the season and I expect him to also move on along with Shea Charles who has been linked with Manchester Utd. Casper Jander may also move back to Germany along with on loan keeper Bayern Munich Daniel Peretz, who has been a revelation.
I hope I’m wrong and all these players stay, and we can keep the core of the group together and go again next year. To go up automatically as champions without the play offs would be the dream.
Sadly I fear the cheating label will follow us around for a long time. But as the saying now goes…Premier League, Championship, League One…always a Saint.
So just like I returned as an eight-year-old after that first defeat to Luton Town 40 years ago, I will be back next season for more joy, fun, pain & torture – that’s all just part of the package if you sign up to be a Saints fan…
- Steve wrote his piece during the play-off final. Hull have since won the match 1-0.
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