Southampton release begrudging acceptance statement after EFL punishment | OneFootball

Southampton have released an acceptance of its punishment for spygate despite complaints about the process.

The Championship side was found to have spied on three clubs throughout the 2025/26 campaign, including against Middlesbrough ahead of the first leg of the play-offs.

That eventually led to Tonda Eckert's team being kicked out of the Championship play-offs with Hull City going on to defeat reinstated Middlesbrough to earn promotion to the Premier League.

Now the club have released a begrudging statement of acceptance over the situation.

"Southampton Football Club notes today’s publication by the Arbitration Panel of the written reasons behind our unsuccessful appeal of the sanctions the Disciplinary Panel previously imposed on us in the EFL proceedings," the club said in a statement. 

"We accept that the club breached the relevant regulations, and we recognise that the disciplinary bodies were entitled to conclude that proof of sporting advantage was not necessary in order to establish a serious offence.

"The club accepts that aspects of our initial response to the situation were not treated with the level of scrutiny they required at the time. In hindsight, we wish this had been managed differently from the outset and this represented an error of judgement for which we take responsibility. Despite this, we are happy with the way in which we admitted the charges and offered our full cooperation and honesty once the formal EFL investigation process had started."

However, the statement then went on to question the impartiality of the independent panel due to two members having an 'indirect' connection to Middlesbrough.

The club then denied accusations of pressure put on junior staff before in the next sentence accepting responsibility for any pressure put on junior staff.

There was also push back on whether spying on opposition teams even had any benefit: "This case has ultimately been decided on the basis that breach and attempted breach were enough, regardless of whether any sporting benefit was actually obtained. In fact, at no stage was there any finding that the club actually obtained any sporting advantage as a result of the conduct in question."

"Our responsibility now is to acknowledge what has happened, take ownership of the lessons it brings, and use this experience to strengthen our judgement, discipline, and integrity moving forward together as a club," the statement concluded.

Southampton finished fourth in the Championship last season just four points away from second place – primarily, thanks to a late improvement of form under Eckert.