Hull City preparing for Playoff Final postponement in wake of ‘Spygate’ as EFL sets date for hearing | OneFootball

Hull City are bracing for the Championship Playoff Final to be postponed in anticipation of a legal challenge by Southampton if they are found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesborough.

The ‘richest game in football’, set to take place on Saturday 23rd of May, could be moved to a later date, after a Saints analyst was photographed observing Boro’s training in secret prior to the first leg last week, as reported by talkSPORT.

It comes as Kim Hellberg’s side, who fell to a 2-1 defeat after extra time courtesy of Shea Charles’ cross-turned-shot on Tuesday night, continue to train in limbo with the EFL announcing the hearing with the Independent Disciplinary Commission will take lace “on or before Tuesday 19th of May.”

The EFL refused to comment when talkSPORT asked whether the final would be moved date due to ‘Spygate’, a decision almost as unprecedented as the incident that came seven years after Leeds were fined £200,000 for spying on Frank Lampard’s Derby County prior to their semi-final in 2019.

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Tonda Eckert’s team may receive a ban from the playoff final if they are found guilty of breaching Regulation 127, prohibiting spying on an opponent within 72 hours of a fixture, which was brought in after Leeds’ sanctioning.

Hellberg accused Southampton of cheating, to which his Saints counterpart said the club are taking “very seriously” with an internal investigation that they pressed the EFL for more time to complete before the hearing.

“It breaks my heart”, the Swede said, “when someone decides: ‘Nah, we’re not going to watch every game, we’ll send someone instead, we’ll film the session and see everything, and hope they don’t get caught’ – I guess that’s why they were switching clothes and all those things.

“If we didn’t catch that man [the alleged analyst] who they sent up, five hours to drive, you would sit here and say ‘well done’, maybe in the tactical aspects of the game and I would go home and feel like I have failed in that aspect.”

The Southampton boss’ post-match press conference after the semi-final earlier in the week was called short by his press officer after a journalist asked if he was a cheat, calling for the member of the press to show more respect.

A warning, fine, future points deduction, or worse are the other possible actions that the English Football League could take if Southampton are found guilty of instructing the analyst charged with spying to have done so, resulting in the man being photographed behind a tree recording the session in Darlington.