{"id":244390,"date":"2026-05-20T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/efl-championship-playoffs-final-southampton-launches-appeal-after-expulsion-from-377m-game-over-spying-on-middlesbrough-reaction-matt-le-tissier-comments\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:32:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:32:00","slug":"efl-championship-playoffs-final-southampton-launches-appeal-after-expulsion-from-377m-game-over-spying-on-middlesbrough-reaction-matt-le-tissier-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/efl-championship-playoffs-final-southampton-launches-appeal-after-expulsion-from-377m-game-over-spying-on-middlesbrough-reaction-matt-le-tissier-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"EFL Championship playoffs final: Southampton launches appeal after expulsion from $377m game over spying on Middlesbrough, reaction, Matt Le Tissier comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Southampton said on Wednesday they had appealed against their expulsion from the Championship play-off final as the punishment was \u201cmanifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game\u201d.<\/p>\n

And Southampton great Matthew Le Tissier also weighed into the debate, saying the punishment did not fit the crime.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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An English Football League independent disciplinary commission on Tuesday kicked the Saints out<\/a> after they admitted spying on a training session of semi-final opponents Middlesbrough.<\/p>\n

Boro have now been reinstated and are set to face Hull at Wembley on Saturday for a place in the Premier League, with Championship winners Coventry and second-placed Ipswich having secured automatic promotion at the end of the regular season.<\/p>\n

Southampton will also be docked four points next season after admitting multiple breaches of regulations related to the \u201cunauthorised filming of other clubs\u2019 training\u201d sessions, according to a statement from the EFL.<\/p>\n

Saints chief executive Phil Parsons apologised on Wednesday \u201cto the other clubs involved, and most of all to the Southampton supporters\u201d, whom he said \u201cdeserved better from the club\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile former Saints star Le Tissier, who has been working with the club in an advisory capacity, told the Sun: \u201cIt feels like you\u2019ve been put on trial for murder when all you\u2019ve done is stolen a Mars bar from the corner shop.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Southampton manager Tonda Eckert may also face personal sanctions.<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Southampton\u2019s appeal will be heard by an independent league arbitration panel later on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A club statement added that the Saints \u201ccannot accept a sanction which bears no proportion to the offence\u201d.<\/p>\n

Parsons said the club had been \u201cdenied the opportunity to compete in a game worth more than \u00a3200 million ($377 million) and one which means so much to our staff, players and supporters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Southampton highlighted a \u00a3200,000 fine imposed on Leeds in 2019 for spying on Derby as evidence of a precedent the EFL should follow in their case.<\/p>\n

However, when Leeds were punished, the EFL\u2019s regulation 127 — which specifically forbids clubs from observing an opponent within 72 hours of a match \u2014 did not exist.<\/p>\n

It was introduced after Leeds were sanctioned to help clarify what had been an uncertain situation.<\/p>\n

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A Southampton intern films Middlesbrough training.<\/span>Source: Supplied<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Southampton have also admitted to spying on a training session at Oxford in December and one at Ipswich in April, in addition to the Middlesbrough session.<\/p>\n

All three incidents occurred after the appointment of German coach Tonda Eckert as Southampton manager in December.<\/p>\n

Middlesbrough, who called for Southampton to be expelled from the play-offs before Tuesday\u2019s hearing, welcomed their removal from the final, saying the ruling \u201csends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hull owner Acun Ilicali voiced his frustration at the delay in confirming his side\u2019s opponents and warned postponing the final would cause a \u201cbig, big problem\u201d given international call-ups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe miss nine days of training (to prepare for Middlesbrough instead of Southampton) so in this case we are very disappointed,\u201d he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in my boys and our coach 100 per cent, but when you look at the picture it doesn\u2019t seem too fair that we don\u2019t know who we play.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southampton said on Wednesday they had appealed against their expulsion from the Championship play-off final as the punishment was \u201cmanifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game\u201d. And Southampton great Matthew Le Tissier also weighed into the debate, saying the punishment did not fit the crime. Get all the latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[49927,1846,73126,3956,85,11768,1429,149,73127,73045,73128,73125,73122,73124,1427,73129,12724,73123,47889,854,1624,58983,2312,70717,2474,1856],"class_list":{"0":"post-244390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-acun-ilicali","9":"tag-city-of-manchester","10":"tag-club-launches","11":"tag-club-statement","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-english-game","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-football-news","16":"tag-game-worth","17":"tag-independent-disciplinary-commission","18":"tag-independent-league-arbitration","19":"tag-intern-films","20":"tag-league-arbitration-panel","21":"tag-matthew-le-tissier","22":"tag-northern-europe","23":"tag-phil-parsons","24":"tag-play-off-final","25":"tag-playoff-finalfootball","26":"tag-playoffs-final","27":"tag-premier-league","28":"tag-semi-final-opponents","29":"tag-semifinal-soccer-match","30":"tag-sky-sports","31":"tag-tonda-eckert","32":"tag-training-session","33":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}