Southampton expelled from play-offs for spying on Middlesbrough

It was Thursday morning, May 7th.

Middlesbrough were preparing for their match against Southampton in 48 hours at their Rockliffe Park training base.

The spy, a Southampton analyst, is said to have parked at the golf club, then walked a few hundred meters along a path to elevated land.

Sources told the BBC that the defendant kept pointing at his mobile phone while wearing earbuds during training.

Middlesbrough staff believe he broadcast the session live via a video call.

BBC sources said they were approached by a Middlesbrough staff member but did not identify the person. He then quickly deleted some content from his phone before running back to the golf club.

He ran to the toilets, changed his clothes and hurriedly left the site.

Middlesbrough’s photographer took the photo and matched it with a photo on the Southampton website. One of these photos was made public last week.

Boro were outraged and immediately reported the matter to the EFL.

The EFL accused Southampton of breaching two regulations.

EFL Regulation 3.4Requiring clubs to act in utmost good faith towards each other; And

EFL Regulation 127This prohibits any club from monitoring or attempting to observe another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match between the two clubs.