Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson has called for the football world to put the Southampton spying controversy behind it, insisting the Saints have already paid a heavy price for the incident.
Parkinson's comments came after Southampton chairman Dragan Solak suggested his club had endured sufficient punishment following the episode, which cast a shadow over the Championship season. Reflecting on those remarks, the Wrexham boss said it was time for everyone connected to the game to close the chapter.
"They are going to move on, and everybody else has to move on. I was reading the chairman quotes. They have been punished severely," Parkinson said. He pointed to the consequences already suffered by the south coast club, adding: "They lost the chance to get into the Premier League. That is punishment enough. Tonda is a young manager, and I'm sure he has accepted responsibility."
Parkinson went further, suggesting the young Southampton manager would grow from the experience rather than be defined by it. "He will learn from that, but now everybody has to draw a line through it and move on," he said.
The controversy had taken on an added dimension last month when Wrexham's high-profile owners, Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, referenced the saga in a promotional video released ahead of the two clubs' league meeting. Wrexham went on to win that encounter 2-1 at the Racecourse Ground, with the decisive goal coming from a late own goal by Southampton defender Keven Schlotterbeck.
That victory proved significant for Wrexham, arriving on the back of a heavy 6-0 defeat at West Ham and helping to ease some of the pressure building around Parkinson's side heading into the international break. The win gave the club a positive note to carry into an extended pause from Championship action.
Despite the morale boost, Parkinson admitted the lengthy gap without competitive fixtures brought its own difficulties for his squad. Wrexham used the three-week hiatus to prepare through training and a friendly fixture against Wigan Athletic, which the manager described as particularly valuable for maintaining match sharpness.
"It has been a long three weeks. The three weeks have been decent. The friendly against Wigan was really important," Parkinson said. He acknowledged the challenge of keeping players competitively sharp during such a break, noting: "Three weeks is too long for the lads to go without a competitive game. All we could do is plan out the three weeks, which we did."
The Wrexham manager also conceded that not everything had gone smoothly during the preparation period, though he stressed this was to be expected over such a stretch. "There have been a few things that did not go our way, but everybody is going to get that across a three-week period," he explained.
Overall, Parkinson struck a positive tone about his squad's conditioning and readiness heading back into Championship competition. "In general, I feel the lads have trained well. They've had a decent balance of rest, fitness work and 11 vs 11 practice," he said.
With the international break now behind them, Wrexham will look to build on the momentum generated by their win over Southampton as they return to league action, while the wider football community appears ready, according to Parkinson, to finally move past the spying affair that had dominated headlines in recent weeks.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.