Middlesbrough to train for playoff final in case Southampton are expelled over spygate

Middlesbrough are scheduled to return to training on Friday in order to be ready to contest a potential playoff final against Hull at Wembley on Saturday week.

Although Boro lost the semi-final to Southampton, they are pushing for the south-coast side to be expelled from the playoffs after William Salt, one of Tonda Eckert’s analysts, was allegedly caught spying on Kim Hellberg’s team at their Rockliffe Park base near Darlington last Thursday.

It led to Southampton being charged with misconduct by the English Football League and Boro and the EFL hope that an independent disciplinary commission will reach a verdict in the coming days.

That panel possesses the power to impose a wide range of punishments if it finds Southampton guilty, ranging from fines to the deduction of points and expulsion from the playoffs. The EFL is aware that, in 2024, Canada Women were deducted six Olympic points and their head coach, Bev Priestman, and two members of her staff received 12-month Fifa bans from football after using a drone to spy on New Zealand at the Paris Olympics.

The EFL has reminded the disciplinary commission that the Priestman case was resolved within seven days and a similarly swift outcome is hoped for. There is, though, a right of appeal. It remains to be seen whether other Championship clubs will support suspicions that they were also spied on by Southampton by presenting the commission with hard evidence of training-ground espionage.

Hellberg and his players stayed in Hampshire on Tuesday night before flying back to Teesside. They are scheduled to congregate for a squad meeting on Thursday before returning to full training on Friday.

Before Tuesday’s semi-final second leg, Hellberg said he had planned every day up until the final and would be organising behind-closed-doors games to help his key midfielder Hayden Hackney’s attempt to be fit for Wembley after two months out with a calf injury.

Should Southampton be found guilty it seems increasingly likely that a sporting sanction rather than a fine will be imposed. The Priestman precedent dictates that a points deduction, which could be applied in the Premier League or EFL next season, could prove a feasible alternative to expelling Southampton from the playoffs and reinstating Boro.

Leeds were fined £200,000 after their then manager, Marcelo Bielsa, admitted sending a staff member to spy on Derby’s training in 2019, but a tougher EFL rule designed to deal with the problem has since been introduced.

The Boro defender Luke Ayling has informed the Football Association that he does not want to pursue an allegation that discriminatory language was directed towards him by Southampton’s Taylor Harwood-Bellis on Tuesday.

Harwood-Bellis is believed to have commented on Ayling’s stammer during the first half and the defender became incensed. Later in the game, though, Harwood-Bellis seemed to apologise to Ayling and, although the incident was mentioned in the referee Andy Madley’s report, Boro have told the FA that their defender does not wish to pursue the matter.