BRUM IS BLUE!

Not necessarily Blues this morning but I thought I’d look at the fallout of Spygate as it’s being dubbed. If you’ve been living under a rock you might not know that Southampton have been charged with spying on their Play Off opponents Middlesbrough, a charge which Southampton have accepted, they’re also charged with two other instances of spying during the season. The punishment for this breach of the rules has now been dished out and Southampton find themselves removed from the Play Off Finals and with four points docked next season.

So, why am I looking at this? Well there are implications for other teams around the competition now. I suspect they have in essence split out the Play Offs from the League because the Saints have been kicked out the final without much noise from teams around that play off spot. This is likely because the specific incident that caused the noise took place during the Play Offs itself but Southampton have now admitted to spying against Oxford and Ipswich, both games they lost. Well of course you’ll admit to ones you lose as there is no discussion of gaining a sporting advantage then.

It’s still half up in the air as to whether or not Southampton will actually play in the final throwing serious doubts on the entire integrity of the competition. By simply focusing on the Play Off as an independent competition you can at least alleviate the challenges from clubs that just missed out on the Play Offs such as Wrexham and potentially Derby. The issue will be that did they spy during the season beyond the two additional games they admitted to? Then we have the fact that Middlesbrough lost and now have the opportunity to face Hull in the final which creates a further issue.

So, if Boro beat Hull and go up Hull will be aggrieved, if Southampton were able to overturn the decision (Which I’ve just heard has been rejected so it’s not going to happen) and play in the final both Hull and Boro would be aggrieved, if Hull go up without having to contest a final most the Championship would be aggrieved and there would be an Asterix over Hulls Premier League campaign. It’s an absolute shambles, I mean for fairness maybe you’d have to expel Southampton but then get Boro to play Millwall another Play Off leg and the winner of this faces Hull? But what if it comes out that Southampton’s solid finish to the season was as a result of cheating, this would then surely have implications for the entire season in essence!

Southampton went on an undefeated run following the appointment of Tonda Eckert (The game before facing Blues for the first time last season… I mean I’m sure he didn’t have anyone spying for that one but you never know) which now is potentially in question but it’s also worth considering this was December 2025 potentially impacting half the season. Now, I personally don’t think watching opponents training sessions will gain much advantage but that hasn’t been the point and the point is rather that they have attempted to gain an advantage via dishonest methods. Therefore we’re hearing talk of Players suing the club, talk of Hull suing the League but does it open the EFL for more legal challenges?

The entire situation is a mess, I think the decision to expel them is the right one but it leaves it open for challenges. I would kind of suggest that we should see Boro and Millwall face each other with the winner of this going through to the final, although that ship has certainly sailed now, I think Eckert should be banned from managing within England as a result of this but ultimately every team impacted could argue the table would have finished different had Southampton not cheated so what happens to the 2025/26 campaign? Imagine if they defaulted and gave 3 points to every club that faced Southampton under Eckert’s tenure! In this instance would we perhaps say Boro should face Wrexham with the winner going into the final? But then the argument will be that Boro had to play an additional game through no fault of their own.

I think ultimately the right decision has been made, a precedent has been set for any future instances, I think we need to see Eckert banned and we need to hope this situation doesn’t occur again!