Southampton

[WTF11]

It may only be a rumour, click bait, something that someone made up, but apparently Wrexham are looking at Eckert

I very much doubt it. Under the same manager (stress, MANAGER), since their last season in Non-league football to the present, achieving what NO OTHER CLUB EVER has, back to back to back promotions, where they came up short (perhaps as a result of Southamptons cheating, who knows) by one point of a play-off place for the PL.

They don't need some upstart with no footballing moral compass.

[WTF11]

And yes, I know that was some attempt at "humour"

[MrsORichSenior_]

was recently reading a UK Media Act broadcasting report with the subject being a perception that UK television now actively promotes lying and cheating as producers increasingly rely on deceit, manipulation and broken trust as core entertainment formats are now drawing massive audiences but in doing so are also sparking criticism regarding the concerns of ethical boundaries of media today, tough calls as frequently working in music media audiences required a broad scope of likes and dislikes.

coincidentally, the stage play Dear England released back in 2023 has just been released as a mini tv series exploring the existential crisis of what it actually means to represent an England team in an age of increasing societal division and inequality with Southgate pursuing soul searching into what he wanted his team to be and represent and the play shows how he selected a young, talented, multicultural squad and how he sensed that for them to survive the pressures of expectation he needed to cultivate a collective culture that transcended racism and the usual traditional hyper masculine football narratives blighting the game.

obviously Southgate urged his players to contribute to his foresight and take responsibility for co-constructing a modern football identity which created headlines in how he got to the core of gelling complex personalities together only to stumble at the final hurdle.

so fair play to Southgate who had examined the many critiques of various academic and media commentators to demonstrate the link between the trappings of sport, in his case football and peoples understanding of the age old us and them mentality within a squad of various multi cultural representation, team ethos and espoused values which are not just signifiers but have a pivotal part to play.

the decline in sporting behavior is now a widely recognised concern across both professional and amateur levels attributed mainly to intense pressure to win and in taking advantage of lenient rule enforcement with a lack of positive role models in sport today alongside an over reliance on bending the rules currently rife in football whether it be deliberate diving, time wasting or tactical fouls to gain an unfair advantage.

is it any wonder this latest shift has sparked global campaigns by sporting organisations to now try restore respect, integrity and ultimately fair play ?

MOT

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

It?s the NY broken syndrome - allow/tolerate a little and it becomes a lot.

Someone should pick up the use of ?professional foul? and call it what it is cynical cheating and then clamp down on it.

[spaldy]

Hop

I think you left out the word "window"!!!

Personally, I believe that that quote is 100% correct. It was a long, long time ago but I remember attending elementary school and how crazy tight the nuns were on the rules the early part of the school year. Once I began conceding dominance to them (usually after experiencing some physical correction) I started to realize that the very short term satisfaction of disruption or insubordination was not worth the painful sore buns and life became much easier and other boys learned the same. She lightened up on us and the rest of the year was much better. Recess was total chaos but inside the school was very orderly.

Life is really not much different as you get older. A hard crackdown on some of the cheating going on early season games would likely result in much less of it as the season goes on.

[WTF11]

Hop

I think you left out the word "window"!!!

Personally, I believe that that quote is 100% correct. It was a long, long time ago but I remember attending elementary school and how crazy tight the nuns were on the rules the early part of the school year. Once I began conceding dominance to them (usually after experiencing some physical correction) I started to realize that the very short term satisfaction of disruption or insubordination was not worth the painful sore buns and life became much easier and other boys learned the same. She lightened up on us and the rest of the year was much better. Recess was total chaos but inside the school was very orderly.

Life is really not much different as you get older. A hard crackdown on some of the cheating going on early season games would likely result in much less of it as the season goes on.

Agree 100% with all that!

[WTF11]

was recently reading a UK Media Act broadcasting report with the subject being a perception that UK television now actively promotes lying and cheating as producers increasingly rely on deceit, manipulation and broken trust as core entertainment formats are now drawing massive audiences but in doing so are also sparking criticism regarding the concerns of ethical boundaries of media today, tough calls as frequently working in music media audiences required a broad scope of likes and dislikes.

coincidentally, the stage play Dear England released back in 2023 has just been released as a mini tv series exploring the existential crisis of what it actually means to represent an England team in an age of increasing societal division and inequality with Southgate pursuing soul searching into what he wanted his team to be and represent and the play shows how he selected a young, talented, multicultural squad and how he sensed that for them to survive the pressures of expectation he needed to cultivate a collective culture that transcended racism and the usual traditional hyper masculine football narratives blighting the game.

obviously Southgate urged his players to contribute to his foresight and take responsibility for co-constructing a modern football identity which created headlines in how he got to the core of gelling complex personalities together only to stumble at the final hurdle.

so fair play to Southgate who had examined the many critiques of various academic and media commentators to demonstrate the link between the trappings of sport, in his case football and peoples understanding of the age old us and them mentality within a squad of various multi cultural representation, team ethos and espoused values which are not just signifiers but have a pivotal part to play.

the decline in sporting behavior is now a widely recognised concern across both professional and amateur levels attributed mainly to intense pressure to win and in taking advantage of lenient rule enforcement with a lack of positive role models in sport today alongside an over reliance on bending the rules currently rife in football whether it be deliberate diving, time wasting or tactical fouls to gain an unfair advantage.

is it any wonder this latest shift has sparked global campaigns by sporting organisations to now try restore respect, integrity and ultimately fair play ?

MOT

The success of ?Traitors? is what I think you are referring to, and unfortunately its no longer confined to Europe, but has infected mainstream media all the way across the world. Not that surprising I suppose. Lying, cheating, treating other with dis-respect as a matter of course and with never a thought as to the consequences, human traits that don?t observe many (if any!) geographical or cultural boundaries.

Used to be that ?the arts? reflected societal norms, now they drive them, and programmes like Traitors (and the more recent ?Neighbourhood? with Graham Norton and others I?m sure are out there!) thrive on the ability of the contestants to deceive and confuse.

However, in the case of Southampton and Ecerts instigation/generation of a spying culture, there can be no ?well they did it first? defence. No other club has seen fit to behave like Southampton (or at least none have been stupid enough to send a boy to do a mans job!), and with the punishment handed out by the EFL (which I?m sure will act as a yardstick for anything the FA might do to a PL club that does the same), I doubt any ever will. Spaldys subsequent post makes the point, and the footballing authorities should take note and act accordingly, prevention is better than cure.


The sole reason behind the decline in footballers behaviour (and I single out professional football), is down to a lack of respect for the rules of the game and those who officiate. Rugby (both codes) doesn?t suffer from such unruly, disrespectful behaviour. Watch a game of union or league, officiated by a little bloke of 5?6? telling these huge guys precisely what to do, when and how, and try and find any dissent. Doesn?t happen. Does that mean officials are perfectionists? No, it doesn?t, they make mistakes but they retain respect. It wasn?t always so, but rugby did what football doesn?t have the spine for, instant punishment and escalation to ejection from the game if necessary, both temporary and permanent. It could happen, but Infantino and others would have to grow that aforementioned spine and a pair to make it happen. It won?t, because they won?t.

[bathlad61]

The guy with phone, by the tree, not exactly undercover agent of the year!

[WTF11]

The guy with phone, by the tree, not exactly undercover agent of the year!

Precisely.

[spaldy]

Not growing up with Rugby it was stunning the first time a friend took me to a bar to watch a big match and giving a primer on it. It's so different in the difference of the conduct, players, officials and fans. it's much more genteel and true sporting rather than win at any cost mindset of football.

Even more incredible when you think of how brutally physical it is!

can you imagine the reactions is a player was diving, yelling at officials, cheap shotting other players etc. it's really so much different than football.

[WTF11]

Not growing up with Rugby it was stunning the first time a friend took me to a bar to watch a big match and giving a primer on it. It's so different in the difference of the conduct, players, officials and fans. it's much more genteel and true sporting rather than win at any cost mindset of football.

Even more incredible when you think of how brutally physical it is!

can you imagine the reactions is a player was diving, yelling at officials, cheap shotting other players etc. it's really so much different than football.

It certainly is, but with only a small amount of change, professional football with the round one could be much the same, just (just!) a matter of there being a will to make the change!

[alfinyalcabo]

Great to see justice prevail,well done Hull. Phook off Boro.

[Billyni]

And yes, I know that was some attempt at "humour"

Better an attempt at "humour " than looking for a tree and a length of rope, which is what most threads seem to degenerate into here.

[whitestomper45]

Yep. 100%

But why only a 4 point deduction next season seems too light to me? If the penalties aren’t severe then cheats will take a small points deduction or £200k fine any day.

They should have been chucked down to L2

Think 4pts for the 2 league games they admitted to and the points earnt deducted. Pretty sure there were more games, rules are still not clear typical EFL making it up as they go along