Southampton have been charged by the EFL for spying on Middlesbrough’s training session ahead of their Championship play-off semi-final.
Daily Mail Sport broke the story on Thursday of a sensational spying furore and the league confirmed in a statement late on Friday that the club had breached two of its regulations.
The Saints sent a junior intern to allegedly spy on the session. Daily Mail Sport has learnt the identity of the employee, who is in his early 20s and was caught in the bushes at Boro’s Rockliffe Park training ground this week.
The individual at the centre of the ‘spygate’ storm has worked for Saints for nearly a year and is listed as a first-team analyst. He has worked at other Premier League clubs.
His current job description includes the word ‘intern’, raising serious questions over why Southampton would instruct a junior member of staff to break EFL rules, if that was the case.
The EFL said: ‘Southampton Football Club has today been charged with a breach of EFL Regulations, and the matter will be referred to an Independent Disciplinary Commission.
A junior Southampton intern was spotted at Middlesborough’s Rockliffe Park training ground
Leeds were embroiled in the original spygate saga when Marcelo Bielsa sent staff to surveil Derby’s training session – but with limited success
‘This follows a request from the EFL for the Club’s observations after a complaint from Middlesbrough relating to alleged unauthorised filming on private property ahead of the two Clubs meeting in Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Semi-Final First Leg.’
Southampton reacted to the EFL’s statement on Friday night.
They said: ‘Southampton Football Club acknowledges the statement issued by the EFL in relation to alleged breaches of EFL Regulations.
‘We can confirm that we will be fully cooperating with the League throughout this process.
‘Given the ongoing nature of the matter, the club is unable to comment any further at this time.’
The breaches relate to EFL regulations that ‘requires Clubs to act towards each other with the utmost good faith’ and ‘which prohibits any Club from observing, or attempting to observe, another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match between the two Clubs’.
A substantial fine will likely be served as a minimum punishment if the charges are proven. The sanction could yet be more severe, given clubs were clearly instructed not to spy on opposition training following the Leeds United spygate saga of 2019. The League introduced a new rule after Leeds were fined £200,000 when boss Marcelo Bielsa admitted to sending a colleague to snoop on Derby County’s training.
Kim Hellberg’s Boro host Tonda Eckert’s Saints at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday, and it was on Thursday morning that staff noticed suspicious activity in a green area overlooking training.
A male was approached by club staff and it is claimed he deleted video and pictures from his mobile phone before refusing to identify himself. He then left the site of the training ground and made his way into the nearby Rockliffe Hall Hotel, owned by Boro chairman Steve Gibson, before changing clothes in a toilet and leaving the area.
Middlesbrough did not comment.
