May 15 – The Championship play-off final has been thrown into uncertainty after the English Football League confirmed it is investigating allegations that Southampton spied on a Middlesbrough training session ahead of last weekend’s semi-final first leg.
An Independent Disciplinary Commission hearing is scheduled to take place on or before Tuesday May 19, just four days before Southampton are due to face Hull City at Wembley Stadium for a place in next season’s Premier League
Tagged as the world’s richest football match, the winner will receive an estimated financial uplift of more than £200 million from the Premier League’s bumper TV and sponsorship deals.
The EFL said it is currently working on the basis that the final will proceed as planned on Saturday May 23 with a 16:30 BST kick-off, but acknowledged the disciplinary process could still affect the fixture.
In a statement, the league warned supporters that “the outcome of disciplinary proceedings may yet result in changes to the fixture”.
Despite this warning, Southampton, who have an allocation of more than 35,000 tickets, have still put them on sale for fans.
The case centres on Middlesbrough’s, at times hysterical, accusations that a member of Southampton’s staff breached EFL regulations by observing a Middlesbrough training session within 72 hours prior (the EFL’s cut off time) of the opening leg at the Riverside.
An intern from Southampton’s playing department was spotted under slight cover of a tree some distance from the Middlesbrough training pitches apparently taking pictures on a mobile phone. Middlesbrough’s training ground is part of a hotel and golf course complex on open land that is accessible to the public.
The intern was identified because he used a credit card to buy a coffee at the hotel.
While the EFL has pushed for an expedited process given the tight scheduling around the play-offs, Southampton are understood to have argued for additional time to conduct their own internal review.
The hearing itself will be overseen by Sport Resolutions, the independent dispute resolution body regularly used across British sport, with a three-person panel expected to determine whether the club has breached league rules.
What remains unclear is the scale of any potential punishment if Southampton are found guilty. Part of the decision making will be whether Middlesbrough’s loss to Southampton (they were well beaten over the two legs) is attributable to the alleged filming of the training session before the first leg that was drawn 0-0.
Speculated sanctions in the UK media range from a financial penalty to points deductions – or, in the most extreme scenario, removal from the play-offs entirely.
In 2019 Leeds were charged for spying on a Derby County training session. Marco Bielsa, Leeds manager at the time, said that observing opponent’s training sessions was common practice in South America. Leeds were handed a £200,000 fine. The EFL then introduced its 72-hour rule which, crucially, does not prohibit clubs from observing opponents training sessions, but does prohibit them from doing so within 72 hours. There is also the question of evidence and whether the pictures could clearly be deemed as spying.
Middlesbrough, still smarting from their loss in the second leg, today released another statement demanding that Southampton are kicked out of the play-offs and saying that if they aren’t, they will seek legal action in search of sporting sanctions against Southampton.
“The observation and recording of our training session ahead of a fixture of such significance, goes to the heart of sporting integrity and fair competition,” said the statement.
“In these circumstances, the only appropriate response is a sporting sanction which would prevent Southampton FC from participating in the EFL Championship play-off final.”
Any party deemed to have a direct interest in the outcome, potentially including Middlesbrough, would also have the right to appeal the verdict. Under EFL rules, however, any appeal ruling would be final, with no route available to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
With their legal threat, Middlesbrough appear to be saying that rule does not apply to them.
The Championship final forms part of Wembley’s traditional three-day play-off schedule, followed by the League One and League Two finals on Sunday and Monday respectively. The stadium is then committed to hosting the Rugby League Challenge Cup final and the Women’s FA Cup final the following weekend, before a major music event in early June.