Southampton 'deplorable' for pressuring junior staff member to spy – and manager to blame, says EFL

The English Football League (EFL) has labelled Southampton "deplorable" for pressuring a junior member of staff to spy on Middlesbrough – blaming manager Tonda Eckert for "spygate".

The Saints were thrown out of this weekend's Championship play-off final, and docked four points for next season, after admitting to spying on other clubs' training sessions, including Middlesbrough, before their play-off semi-final.

In its written explanation for the punishment, the EFL described Southampton's actions as "a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage in competitions of real significance".

"It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations at the direction of senior personnel," it continued.

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A young intern spied on Middlesbrough and Oxford's training grounds. He declined to participate in another proven incident at Ipswich.

He described the "pressure he was placed under" to the Independent Commission.

The verdict continued: "The commission considers that the evidence demonstrates that the output of the observations fed into analysis conducted by the team, it was discussed with [manager Tonda] Eckert and others and it was sought so as to inform the strategy for the match.

"Mr Eckert accepted, as he must, that information such as team selection and injuries is sensitive information which a club would wish to keep private in the build-up to a game."

The manager "also accepted that he had specifically authorised the observations to obtain information about formation in the [Oxford] incident and about the availability of a key player in the [Middlesbrough] incident", it said.

The commission dismissed a claim from Eckert that he had not found the information obtained from the spying "useful".

The EFL concluded that "the integrity of the play-off competition was seriously violated".

Addressing the severity of the punishment, which some have argued is disproportionate, it said a points deduction or other sanction could be applied if the regular season was still ongoing.

"In the play-offs, such a position is not possible," it said.

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A financial penalty "would not be effective at this stage in the competition since the financial rewards on offer for a team which is promoted to the Premier League through the play-offs would render any penalty meaningless", the EFL statement continued.

"Perversely this may act as an incentive for clubs to breach [the regulations] and pay the fine in an effort to increase the chance of promotion."

With Southampton expelled from the play-offs, Middlesbrough will now face Hull in Saturday's showpiece at Wembley, with a spot in the Premier League up for grabs.

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