Southampton’s attempts to gain an advantage by spying on opponents not only spectacularly backfired in their battle to gain promotion – but the Saints didn’t even win any of the games they admitted to cheating on.
On Tuesday, in a sensational development to the Spygate scandal, an independent disciplinary commission expelled Tonda Eckert’s side from Saturday’s £200million Championship play-off final, where they were set to face Hull City.
The club has also been hit with a four-point deduction ahead of next season. An appeal will be heard by an independent arbitration panel on Wednesday.
Middlesbrough, who raised a complaint when their training was spied on 48 hours before the play-off semi-final first leg, are set to take their place in the final. However, in a strange quirk, that game will be brought forward an hour to kick off at 3.30pm on Saturday, yet if Southampton are reinstated the match would stay at 4.30pm.
At a hearing on Tuesday, the south coast club admitted to spying on Middlesbrough, Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April. It is believed that text messages between Southampton employees provided incriminating evidence of systemic espionage.
However, Southampton failed to win any of the three games, with the most controversial of those operations preceding a 0-0 draw in this month’s play-off semi-final first leg.
A Southampton analyst hiding behind a tree to spy on Middlesbrough’s training session
Southampton failed to win any of the three games they admitted to spying on in the build-up
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Back in December, Oxford, who sacked manager Gary Rowett on the 23rd of that month, suspected that training, taken by caretaker coach Craig Short, was observed before their game against Southampton on Boxing Day. The club admitted to this, but Oxford still won that encounter 2-1 in a shock result at the time.
The Ipswich game in April was also a crunch clash in the promotion battle, but yet again Southampton failed to win as they were held to a 2-2 draw.
The outcome of the hearing has led to fury and condemnation from across the footballing world and even Southampton’s own fans, many of whom have demanded a refund for their cancelled trip to Wembley for the play-off final, including supporter group Rainbow Saints.
In a statement expressing their anger and frustration at what had gone on, they added: ‘While we are disappointed with the decision made after today’s hearing to expel Southampton from the playoff final, we’re left embarrassed and even more disappointed about the admissions made on behalf of the club of three occasions where rules were breached.
‘The players worked so hard to turn around the first part of the season and us fans spent countless amounts of time and money travelling around England and Wales in all sorts of weather to cheer them on.
‘Yet due to decisions completely out of our respective control, we’re left entirely let down by incredibly poor decision-making.’
They also added that the news had tarnished an incredible recovery under Eckert, which saw the German take the club from 21st in the table in November to fourth by the end of the campaign.
The group similarly urged the club to refund supporters who had travelled to both legs of the semi-final, issue a formal apology to fans, take appropriate disciplinary action for those involved in the breaches if necessary and conduct an internal review of what had gone on.
Elsewhere, they also expressed their concern for intern William Salt, who was identified as the Southampton spy at Middlesbrough, and called on the club to provide him with ‘adequate support’.
Southampton did not comment on Tuesday when asked if Eckert would be the subject of internal disciplinary action.
However, it is understood that the German is fearing for his role at the club amid the fallout, while technical director Johannes Spors is also under scrutiny.
Tonda Eckert’s side have been expelled from the Championship play-off final this weekend
April’s 2-2 draw with Ipswich was one of three games Southampton admitted to cheating on
Daily Mail Sport originally revealed on May 7 that a Southampton first-team analyst was confronted by Boro staff after he was spotted hiding behind a tree at their Rockliffe Park training base.
He then ran into a nearby golf club, changed clothes in the toilet and fled the area. The EFL charged Saints with a breach of their rules, which prohibit clubs from observing opposition training.
We later revealed a picture of Southampton intern Salt filming Boro’s training on his iPhone and exposed his close connection to head coach Eckert.
After our story broke, a whistleblower reached out to Middlesbrough amid suspicion they were not the only victims. Boro spoke with several Championship clubs who also believed their sessions had been spied on by Southampton.
Wrexham, who missed out on the play-offs by one place, are now observing developments. They could have a case for a compensation claim against Southampton.
Middlesbrough, beaten by Saints in last week’s semi-final second leg, returned to training this week in the hope of being reinstated to the final. Led by chairman Steve Gibson, they had called for their opponents to be kicked out of the competition for cheating.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the EFL said in a statement: ‘An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs after the club admitted to multiple breaches of EFL Regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training.
‘In addition, the club has received a four-point deduction that will be applied to the 2026/27 Championship table, alongside a reprimand in respect of all the charges. The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.
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‘Southampton was first charged on Friday 8 May, with further charges issued on Sunday 17 May in relation to additional breaches during the 2025/26 season. Those additional charges arose from matters identified after the initial proceedings involving Middlesbrough were initiated.
‘Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match. The admitted breaches concern fixtures against Oxford United in December 2025, Ipswich Town in April 2026 and Middlesbrough in May 2026.
‘Southampton has a right to appeal the Commission’s decision in accordance with EFL Regulations and the parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May. Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture.
‘The EFL is now in discussion with all three clubs regarding the implications of today’s decision and will make a further announcement in due course.’
