Sign up now ><\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\nSouthampton were also docked four points for next season.<\/p>\n
The club appealed. But the independent commission, run by Sports Resolution, condemned Southampton\u2019s tactics, calling them \u201ca contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage in competitions of real significance by deliberate attendance at opposition training grounds for the purpose of obtaining tactical and selection information.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling was scathing about what it called \u201ca particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJunior members of staff were put under pressure to carry out activities that they felt were at the least morally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Middlesbrough were reinstated and face Hull at Wembley on Saturday for a place in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
Southampton appealed to the commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe integrity of the Play-Off competition was seriously violated,\u201d the 12-page document said.<\/p>\n
It \u201cconstituted a deliberate attempt to gain unfair advantage\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Southampton’s coach Tonda Eckert. AP Photo\/Kin Cheung<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe documents said the ruling was unanimous and that the commission believed lesser sanctions would fail to discourage a repeat because promotion to the Premier League is worth an estimated \u00a3200 million (AU$375 million) in extra revenue.<\/p>\n
The English Football Association said it was looking at whether it should also bring charges.<\/p>\n
An FA spokesperson said Thursday: \u201cWe will now investigate and won\u2019t comment further until we have assessed the evidence.\u201d Saints chief executive Phil Parsons meanwhile said the sanctions imposed were \u201cmanifestly disproportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kicking the club out of the play-offs denies them a shot at a Premier League place.<\/p>\n
The commission mentioned the involvement of head coach Tonda Eckert, whose future as Southampton boss is in doubt.<\/p>\n
Saints, relegated from the Premier League last year, said in a statement that \u201ctrust now needs to be rebuilt\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reports suggest players are considering legal action against the club. <\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nArteta ‘making BBQ’ in Title moment | 02:05<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nSouthampton player of the year Leo Scienza described the punishment as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d and said the club\u2019s fans \u201cdefinitely deserved better\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gave everything for this dream,\u201d he posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cDay after day, sacrifice after sacrifice, always believing we could bring this club back to where it belongs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the dream of playing in the Premier League was something I fought for with everything I had. That\u2019s why this pain cuts so deep.\u201d At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Canada\u2019s women\u2019s team — the defending champions at the time — were found guilty of spying on New Zealand, using a drone.<\/p>\n
Football\u2019s world governing body, FIFA, banned three members of staff, including the head coach Bev Priestman, from football for a year, and docked them six points.<\/p>\n
The winners of Saturday\u2019s play-off final will join already promoted Coventry and Ipswich in the Premier League next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southampton were expelled from the promotion play-off because a fine would have been insignificant if they had won promotion to the Premier League, said documents from the Independent Disciplinary Commission released on Thursday. Saints admitted observing a training session held by semi-final opponents Middlesbrough earlier this month, as well as two other similar incidents during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-244602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244602","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=244602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}