deserve

For those associated with the club, the desire to watch a successful team next season is blended with a need to shake off the damage Eckert’s actions have caused.

One of the more egregious conclusions drawn by the EFL investigation into Southampton’s practices was that the young analyst intern who was caught spying outside Middlesbrough’s training ground had raised concerns about the task he was given, but was put “under extreme pressure” to carry it out by more senior personnel, including Eckert.

In many workplaces, a senior staff member pressuring a junior colleague into performing a task which violates industry rules would be met with a swift and significant punishment.

But Solak told BBC Sport that the intern was at fault for not kicking up more of a fuss, saying: “I believe that our junior intern felt personally it’s wrong, and he didn’t feel right for doing this, and I think he should have expressed that stronger.”

Solak insisted he has subsequently offered the intern analyst a full-time job with the club.

But the treatment of a young, inexperienced member of staff has raised concerns about the club’s culture.

“The club has lacked in terms of leading on the problem, and sorting out their own mess,” Tessem adds.

“I hope they have all learned a very harsh lesson. When you’ve been caught red handed, you need to take responsibility for the situation.”

If Southampton do manage to keep Eckert in his job, then the question of whether the club really has learned that lesson will continue to be asked.

Gogglebox couple Mary and Giles bickered in the latest episode of the Channel 4 show

Gogglebox star Giles Wood bickered wife Mary Killen on the show as he insisted he deserved “better” now he’s getting older.

The armchair critic launched into a rant about wanting “new, fresh things” in the latest instalment of the Channel 4 show, as he dug in his heels about wanting a new BBQ.

He and wife, Gogglebox co-star Mary, had been watching celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Ultimate BBQ show, when Giles decided that he wanted to splash out on a new one himself.

“Let’s buy that barbecue, Mary,” he said, however, she replied: “We’ve got one.”

“I know, but it’s c**p,” said Giles, but Mary asked: “Is it? You haven’t even tried it yet.”

“No, I just don’t like old things,” Giles insisted. “The older I get, the more I want new things, Mary. That’s irony. I like to buy new, fresh things.”

“Well, too bad,” his wife retorted.

“I’ve had a lifetime of hand-me-downs, and I’m fed up with it,” Giles explained. “I deserve better.”

Mary replied “No, you don’t deserve…” but Giles interjected: “I deserve better.”

“You certainly do not!” she exclaimed, as Giles restated his desire for Jamie’s BBQ. “I deserve one of these, Mary,” he told her.

Viewers were tickled by the exchange, with one posting on X: “Lol, Gyles just wants a new BBQ.” “Giles go buy yourself a new BBQ,” urged another viewer, as somebody else exclaimed: “Giles deserves better!”

“Giles is great at winding up Mary and she always bites,” one person posted on the platform, which was formerly Twitter. Another quipped: “Giles! He kills me.”

The pair squabbled again later in the episode, which saw the cast watching programmes such as the Eurovision Song Contest, Race Across the World and Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly.

They had words when Giles took issue with a pork pie containing pickle.

Giles was sampling the pie as they tuned into the week’s TV offerings but when Mary asked if he was “pleased with it” he confessed: “Um, sadly no.”

“That is not a proper pork pie,” he said. “So what?” Mary asked. “It’s nicer than a pork pie. It’s sophisticated.”

But Giles said the fact it was called a pork and pickle pie “should immediately send red lights buzzing in, in anyone’s head” as he complained about it being “soggy”.

Unimpressed, Mary got up to take it off him. “Oh, you horrible man, stop touching it,” she said. “I’m going to take it away… If you’re ungrateful, there are 100 men who would say, ‘Ooh, that’s a sophisticated take on a pork pie, Mary.’ I’m going to have that. Thank you. You’re not having it again.”

Gogglebox airs on Channel 4.