Southampton’s Championship Play-offs Expulsion for Spying is Ridiculous | OneFootball

Middlesbrough’s promotion in their place, even as victims of spying, giving them a shot at the Premier League they don’t deserve, is even more so.

There have been several cases of spying in recent years. None have had a sanction that could cost the perpetrators $270 million, which is the estimated earnings of a team promoted to the Premier League. None have seen them removed from competition.

Yet that’s what Southampton have got after being expelled by the EFL from Saturday’s final. And it’s only the start of the punishment the St. Mary’s outfit are left with. It could get a whole lot worse. Players are considering suing the club for loss of earnings. The head coach Tonda Eckert and other individuals face further sanction from the football league.

It’s safe to assume we can expect widespread dismissals ahead of next season, where the club will start with a four point deduction.

The ruling, it’s fair to say, has torn the club apart. And it will continue to do so for the next few weeks unless the punishment – not the decision, let’s be clear – is overturned.

Guilty verdict

On Tuesday an independent panel found Southampton guilty by an independent commission of spying on their Championship opponents. Crucially, one was against Middlesbrough ahead of their play-off semi-final, which Southampton went on to win over two legs 2-1.

Middlesbrough complained to the league after analyst, named as William Salt, was seen standing at Boro’s training ground with a mobile phone during one of their training sessions.

Southampton admitted spying on three opponents and as such breaching two regulations. The first requires clubs to act in good faith while the other, brought in after the last Spygate scandal in 2019 involving Leeds United, prohibiting the observation of another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.

The EFL expelled them from the play-off final and docked them four points from the start of next season.

Previous cases – Leeds United

Spying is not new. In 2019 Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted spying on Derby County ahead of a crucial Championship league game. Leeds won that but the pair both finished in the top 6 and later met in the play-off semi-final where the Rams gained revenge in a thrilling 4-2 victory at Elland Road.

Bielsa admitted spying on all his opponents and Leeds’ punishment was a $267,000 fine. No points deduction, no expulsion. Though it must be said that at the time the only regulation they breached was the “bad faith” one. It was as a result of that case that the 72-hour regulation was introduced.

Canada Women

In 2024 the Canada women’s soccer team coaches were found guilty of spying on their opponents New Zealand during the Paris Olympics. Head coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joey Lombardi were all sent home in disgrace and subsequently left their positions. The investigation heard that the spying was “systemic” had been going on long before the Olympics in other international games.  

At the time, Canada were docked six points from the Olympic competition. FIFA fined Canada Soccer $250,000 and banned Priestman, Lombardi, and Mander from all soccer for one year. Lombardi, who actually flew the drone, also accepted an eight-month suspended prison sentence for breaching French law on drone flying.

New England Patriots

In 2007, the NFL outfit the New England Patriots were caught using video to record the New York Jets’ signals during a game. The coach, Bill Belichick, was fined $500,000, while the club were fined $250,000 and docked a first-round draft pick.

In 2019 the Patriots were again caught spying, this time on the Cincinnati Bengals during their game against Cleveland Browns, a week before the Patriots travelled to play the Bengals. This time the fine hit $1.1 million and had a third-round pick in the 2021 draft taken away.

Fair Sanction for Southampton?

All this shows that fines and docked points, along with sanctions against individuals, is the global precedent. Removing a team from a competition is not.

Southampton will today appeal their punishment because they believe, quite rightly, it is too harsh. Middlesbrough, who at one time looked nailed on for automatic promotion to the Premier League, were left in the play-offs because of a collapse of form late in the season which saw them fail to win in seven games in March and April. None of those were against Southampton.

In the two legs of the play-off semi-final against the Saints, they missed a hatful of chances in the first leg and were certainly second best in the second. The eventual winner came not from a piece of tactical mastery supported by knowing what Boro were going to do, but a mishit cross.

No-one is saying Southampton don’t deserve to be punished. They do. Harry Redknapp, the former Saints manager and star of I’m a Celebrity, was right when he said they were “stupid beyond belief”. The fact Southampton admitted spying in three games they lost despite going on a 21-game unbeaten league run from January until the end of the season is worthy of a raised eyebrow. Fines, great. Points deduction, no problem.

But expelling them goes completely at odds with all sporting precedent and far exceeds what is fair and proportionate. As does putting Middlesbrough in the final when they don’t deserve to be there any more than Millwall, the other defeated semi-finalists. If anything, Hull City should just be promoted having got to the final with victory over Millwall.

Let’s hope the appeal committee, which is totally different from the committee which heard the case on Tuesday, see sense.