Kim Hellberg left fuming at "disgraceful" Southampton in emotional press conference | OneFootball

Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg fought back the tears in an emotional press conference following defeat against Southampton in the play-offs

Southampton prevailed over Middlesbrough in a tight two-legged affair to reach the Championship play-off final, but there's still plenty of loose ends to be tied up.

The on-field quality over 210 minutes of action was somewhat marred by off-field controversies, as Southampton were charged with an alleged spying incident in the lead-up to the first leg at the Riverside last Saturday.

The Saints haven't attempted to deny those charges, but yesterday did request more time to conduct an internal review before the EFL's independent disciplinary commission conduct their own to determine any form of punishment.

With Shea Charles' cross-cum-shot separating the two sides in extra time after Ross Stewart cancelled out Riley McGree's opener in the first half, it still remains to be seen whether Southampton will be allowed to play in the final on May 23, with it being speculated that a removal from the play-offs could be an apt punishment.

Nevertheless, even if Middlesbrough do get reinstated into the play-offs in the coming days, they'll feel that they were robbed of getting there the right way, and Boro boss Kim Hellberg was understandably emotional in his post-match press conference.

Kim Hellberg feels heartbroken in the aftermath of Spygate 2.0

Speaking immediately after the game to Sky Sports, Hellberg made a point of congratulating the Southampton players and fans, but not their staff. He would open his press conference to the external media in a similar fashion.

Then, per the Northern Echo, he would go into further detail on how the actions over the past week have affected him as a coach, holding back the tears as he outlined that they "broke his heart."

"I worked 15 years as a coach to try and get to the Premier League. That's my dream," he said. "That's been my dream for 15 years. When I take the Middlesbrough job, I know there are clubs with bigger resources or parachute payments, which means money to spend.

"There are teams, to be fair, that had bigger squads, that had more money to spend. What you have as a coach and what you have as a group is the tactical element of the game, where we can beat the opponent.

"And I think that's what everyone loves about the game. I think that's why I look at England and think this is the home of football. When you battle with teams who have more money and a bigger squad, you try to find a way to do the tactical element to get the advantage.

"That's what you always try to do because we can be better in that element. When that is taken away from you, I think it's no longer fair."

Hellberg relayed a point that he heard Millwall manager Alex Neil say after their play-off semi-final defeat to Hull City on Monday night, in that he feels he lets people down when his side loses a game.

The Swedish boss believes that he works tirelessly to try and get that tactical advantage, missing more time with his family to try and help his team and give the fans something to cheer. But ultimately, he feels that Southampton used underhanded tactics to get an unfair advantage.

"I think Alex Neil said a very good thing after the Millwall game. He said, 'I think I let people down after the game when we haven't won,' and that's often the feeling a coach goes home with, because you think that what I could control was the tactical aspect of the game," he continued.

"When you have done that for a week or two weeks up to this game, put every second away from your family to watch Southampton every game, so you can gain that advantage that we can actually get. When you go home to your family and say, 'No, I'm not coming home, I'm going to see more games of them.'

"If we hadn't caught that man who they sent five hours up, you would sit here and say, 'well done in the tactical aspect of the game.' And I would go home and feel like I had failed in that aspect that I had to help my players with.

"When that is taken away from you in that way, when someone decides, 'No, we're not going to watch every game, we will send someone instead' and they film the session and see everything and hope they don't get caught [...] it breaks my heart in terms of all those things I believed in.

"I don't care if there's different rules in other countries. This is England. I think this is where football is the biggest thing. That's my feelings about it. I think that is disgraceful to a colleague who you work against. It makes me very sad."

Southampton await the EFL's decision following spying charge

Given how close the allegations were to a key game at the end of the season, and the fact that it's a clear breaking of the rules this time around, there's a level of sincerity surrounding Southampton's alleged spying compared to when Leeds United brought this tactic into the light back in 2019.

However, it's also arguable that the removal of Southampton from the play-offs entirely would be a punishment to the fanbase and the players who have worked hard both on and off the pitch to get to Wembley, irrespective of what the coaching staff are doing.

So, what will the eventual punishment be? The Canadian women's football team were docked six points from their group in the Olympics, and their coach was banned for one year, after they used a drone to spy on opposition sessions.

That's the only prior instance of a punishment being implemented, but those were FIFA sanctions, rather than the EFL. A points deduction may be sufficient, but if Southampton get promoted, the EFL cannot impose that sanction on a Premier League club, rather just advise the top-flight board to.

Either way, this situation is far from over, and it'll be intriguing to see which avenue the EFL goes down when making their verdict.