The club that wanted to know everything seemed to have missed one minor detail in their investigations. More than 12 hours after one of the more explosive announcements in EFL history, the main story on Southampton’s club website still concerned Ross Stewart’s call-up to Scotland’s World Cup squad. And ‘the Loch Ness Drogba’ will indeed be one of the best nicknames in the United States this summer.
A more immediate issue, however, was Southampton’s expulsion from the play-offs; even the four-point deduction applied to next season’s Championship campaign felt a footnote. Southampton launched an immediate appeal; should it fail, however, then this sorry episode will rank as one of the most expensive miscalculations in footballing history.
Before being thrown out, Southampton were the favourites to beat Hull in Saturday’s play-off final. Promotion could be worth £200m. Even put the morality of their amateurish antics to one side for a moment and this is the £200m cock-up.
And to what benefit? Southampton admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations relating to spying on opponents – or, in the language of the rules, observing their training sessions within 72 hours of scheduled games. The matches in question were a 2-1 defeat to an Oxford team who would end up relegated, in which Southampton were terrible, a 2-2 draw with Ipswich and the stalemate in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Middlesbrough. The common denominator is that Southampton won none of those matches. Whatever information they gleaned cannot have been of that much use.
But, in the equation of risk against reward, the cost has been huge. At a stroke, their surge from 21st to fourth has become irrelevant, their 21-game unbeaten run – first at the end of the league season, then in the play-offs – immaterial. Middlesbrough could end up with the curiosity of promotion via the play-offs having lost the semi-final. Southampton exit them undefeated but disgraced.
Some of the details can verge on the comical; an intern failing to hide himself behind a tree, recording footage on an iPhone, rushing into a hotel toilets to change and try and make his escape from Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe Park complex, the fact there were pictures of the culpable intern in a group including manager Tonda Eckert. This was not a sophisticated spying scheme. Perhaps Southampton deserve a swingeing penalty simply for the combination of stupidity and incompetence.
Whether the punishment imposed by an independent disciplinary commission fits the crime is a moot point. Middlesbrough, after all, lost a semi-final and now could go up; but someone had to play in the final, and it would not have seemed appropriate to just give Hull a bye into the Premier League. There are different types of rule-breaking, which may render comparisons difficult, but the points deductions given to West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday ultimately did not alter their fate. Southampton’s did.
Equally, even if Southampton gained little, they can be judged in part on their intent. It was not to observe the regulations or to act in good faith towards fellow clubs, a catch-all term that brought another of their charges.
A reason to think this is needless idiocy is to wonder if any of it was actually necessary. A club who did not suspect Southampton of spying on them felt Saints had simply played them off the park by possessing better footballers.
Some of those may now go without a swift return to the Premier League: Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Shea Charles and Leo Scienza perhaps the most likely. Even before then, Southampton may have other problems. William Salt, the Dim Philby of St Mary’s, was not acting alone. An FA charge for Johannes Spor, the director of football, or Eckert, could bring a ban.
Even without one. Eckert’s position is probably untenable. All of the admitted instances of spying came after he replaced Will Still. The assumption has to be that the culture on the coaching staff stemmed from the manager. Either directly or indirectly, he is implicated. Eckert’s inability to answer questions before and after the two legs of the Boro tie scarcely made him look innocent. The 33-year-old German has overseen some outstanding results. His reputation is nonetheless in tatters. Sport Republic, who have been largely hapless owners, need to face up to their own failings.
Southampton probably need to clean house, to start afresh. As Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg said last week, this is not the fault of either the supporters or the players. Nevertheless, the club will have the stigma of being labelled as cheats. It will take quite some time to shake that off, even in a world when those who dive or feign injury are scarcely playing by the rules.
Should Southampton be marooned in the EFL for years because of this, there will be long-term consequences. It may be a turning point in their history but they cannot expect much sympathy now.
Still, good news about Ross Stewart.
