I know naff all about the law, legal process etc, but are we saying here, that basically, we have had sh*t legal advice or support and if so, why?

Club needs to tell us the legal advice it was given. It would seem to be different to that of Mr Mostyn.
If we were shot 'to encourage the others' as Voltaire said of Admiral Byng then why did we roll over and accept such injustice?

If the FA impose further draconian sanctions we must take the strongest possible legal action

Typical Sports Republic, on this occasion taking a water pistol to a gunfight.

It’s a good read, albeit as he has stated himself he is a Saints fan, so although there are apparently some legal loopholes we could explore, the severity of the punishment is still somewhat subjective, although like a lot of football fans I agree it was very harsh and we were made an example out of. There does feel like some recourse we could purse with claims against EFL and Boro, but it’s whether we can bothered at this point or wish to throw good money after bad. Obviously we will try and minimise collateral damage and next few weeks will be key. Club staying very quiet.

Saints need to take the fight to the FA EFL and Middlesborough.
Also at all cost keep TE as our manager and JS as our Football Director

Do clubs ever take the EFL to court and win?

Going after Gibbon more feasible I would have thought but what would be a watertight case? We all know things were fishy but hard proof before a beak? Saints legal team have not inspired confidence so far. Failure might well bankrupt us.

More evidence of how we are led by buffoons. And the reason for the repeated patterns of silence that we see from the club increasingly indicate to me an effort to hide that fact.
How Parsons is still in a job is hard to get my head around. We've had the worst punishment possible (including a point deduction too!!!) Have effectively stated no case of defence. And have just obligingly taken any punishment meted out. And are now waiting for even more punishment from the FA. Which I assume will just follow the same pattern.
Then we have our CEO b;lathering on about lessons will be learned and the fans and players need to forgive everyone and move on behind the current leadership. i.e. Parsons.
Please can we reset this entirely under a new CEO and stop being asked to just accept being shafted by everybody else? When is the good news coming???

SFC were accused, tried, sentenced, by the popular media and now they are being executed by the same. we the fans are to ready to follow and respond to the news hounds when they smell blood. I am not saying the club is innocent in this and with hand on heart I don't think any club would say they are innocent. So perhaps we the fans should also not judge or execute until we get to hear from the club. Over to you Dragan

Sounds like someone has just woken him from his afternoon nap.

- ‘Grotesquely draconian’, Rhetorical nonsense, the punishment is actually just ‘standard’. Forfeiting the game for cheating in a knockout competition is perhaps the longest, most established punishment in football, with 140 years of precedent behind it. There’s even precedent this season. Law is all about precedent. As an ancillary point, focussing on the scale of the punishment, while ignoring the scale of the offence, is very poor legal practice.

- ‘Shot to encourage others’ - right, because handing out a trivial fine, allowing the cheating party to carry on in its pursuit of a £150-200 million reward, while the innocent parties suffer the consequences of:
1. being unable to pursue the £150-200 million, and/or
2. Suffer direct financial losses as a result of that cheating, is somehow a more just outcome?

Why should 23 clubs who didn’t cheat, suffer financial losses because 1 did cheat? This is completely untenable, and the antithesis of justice.



What would of course be guaranteed to ‘encourage others’ to make this an on-going issue, would be to hand down a trivial fine, with no sporting sanctions, since other clubs would simply chalk it up as the cost of doing business. What on earth is this guy taking about?

- "They reinforce my view that Southampton have suffered a substantial injustice by reason of a serious irregularity. I am at a loss to understand why the appeal was not allowed."

As above, the penalty has 140 years of precedent. As he should know.

- ‘He also suggests that as the losing party, Southampton are entitled to know precisely what was the evidence that led to the damning findings, but this does not seem to have happened.’

Hmm….what does he think happened at the all-day hearing on 19th May, when the EFL submitted its case to the panel, and Southampton submitted their defense? Mind boggling.

- ‘Mostyn also argues that although EFL rules block standard appeals, Southampton could still have challenged the ruling in the High Court under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, which allows courts to intervene in arbitration cases involving “serious irregularity” and “substantial injustice.”

- Besides the fact that, (obviously), neither of these apply, by joining the EFL league, clubs agree to waive their right to take football-related disputes to the High Court or other civil litigation. The EFL can’t run a competition without rules, and if you sign up to those rules, and then show a flagrant, deliberate, and systematic, disregard for them so that you can seek financial gain over others who are playing by the rules, and who will be financially damaged by your disregard for them, you really don’t have a leg to stand on when you are caught out.

- 'Whatever was learned had absolutely no effect on the ensuing 0-0 draw played on 9 May 2026 where Southampton were on the ropes for most of the game.'

1. Irrelevant to the EFL rules
2. Conjecture

- He references various cases, but nowhere does he refer to the EFL's rules, or the EFL's procedural aims for dealing with transgressions. They're kind of important.

I wouldn’t let this guy represent my interests in a game of tiddlywinks. Perhaps he should stick to rugger and hunting.