‘Saints’ has become one hell of an ironic moniker in the space of a week.
In their ruthless pursuit of Premier League football, Southampton have pushed, bent and perhaps even broken the rules to an unprecedented degree.
They’ve taken football’s dark arts to a level that would make even Diego Simeone wince.
We’ll call it skullduggery here but rival fans have been more explicit in condemning the behaviour of Tonda Eckert’s Championship villains.
The backdrop of the ‘spygate’ scandal didn’t exactly prompt Saints to clean up their act over a fiercely-contested play-off semi-final against Middlesbrough and if anything, they doubled down – even the ball boys were at it.
Here’s a look at their recent rap sheet and how the Wembley-bound side became public enemy number one.
Southampton celebrate their win over Middlesbrough on Tuesday night after a number of controversial moments over the last week
‘Spygate’ – Saints’ original sin
That sounds like some kind of half-baked Dan Brown novel, doesn’t it?
Daily Mail Sport opened Pandora’s box last week, breaking the story that a junior intern was caught trying to spy on a Middlesbrough training session before the first leg.
The man in his early 20s was found in the bushes at Boro’s Rockliffe Park training ground.
He was approached by club staff and it is claimed he deleted video and pictures from his mobile phone before refusing to identify himself, left the site 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.
The botched mission was more Johnny English than James Bond and provoked a reaction combining disbelief, outrage and humour.
Middlesbrough, of course, did not see the funny side and manager Kim Hellberg was on the verge of tears last night as he reflected on the sorry saga in the wake of his side’s 2-1 elimination.
‘I worked 15 years as a coach, trying to get to the Premier League. That’s my dream for 15 years,’ he lamented.
Fans referenced ‘spygate’ with their outfits at St Mary’s and made light of the scandal
This Southampton supporter was one of many to bring binoculars to the match
‘If we wouldn’t have caught that man they sent up on a five-hour drive, you would sit there and say, well done, maybe, in the tactical aspect of the game and I would go home and feel like I had failed in that aspect I had to help my players with.
‘When that is taken away from you in that way, when someone decides: “No, we’re not going to watch every game. We’ll send someone instead and film the session and see everything and hope we don’t get caught”. I guess that was why they were switching clothes and all those things.
‘It breaks my heart in terms of all those things I believe in. That’s the thing.
‘That’s my feelings about it. I think it’s disgraceful. It makes me very sad.’
Southampton have been charged and are under investigation, with potential punishments ranging from a fine to outright expulsion from the play-offs. They have not publicly denied the charges.
Eckert awkwardly walked out of his own post-match press conference after being asked directly if he was a cheat.
‘Spygate’ was the scandal that coloured the entire tie but there were plenty of other examples of Saints’ questionable behaviour.
Taking Le Tiss
At half-time on Tuesday night, Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier had his Delia Smith ‘let’s be having you’ moment.
As our reporter James Sharpe wrote: ‘If this play-off semi final couldn’t get any weirder, Matt Le Tissier has just come on at half-time and accused the referee of making himself “the star of the show” and urged the Southampton fans to direct “positive energy to the players instead of negative energy elsewhere”.’
Better known these days for his fixation with conspiracy theories – recently arguing with Grok over ‘plane trails’ in the early hours – Le Tissier has morphed into a figure of derision since being axed by Sky Sports.
Regardless of his many unconventional views on the Ukraine war, Covid, Bill Gates and 9/11, he’s still warmly regarded by many at St Mary’s and put himself forward to gee up the fans.
His call for ‘positive energy’ must have done the trick.
But perhaps the irony of accusing Andrew Madley of wanting to be centre of attention was lost on him as he commanded a mic in front of 30,277 fans.
Matt Le Tissier addressed the crowd at half-time saying the referee wanted to be ‘the star’
‘Is it me or are ball boys getting bigger?’
There was another flashpoint with 10 minutes to go when Matt Targett found himself in the unusual position of being refused a ball by a ball boy who loomed over him.
Okay, that’s an exaggeration but this youngster was taller than the Middlesbrough defender and his refusal to hand over possession sparked fury from the visitors.
The Sky Sports commentators were incredulous.
They said: ‘He’s asking for the ball, the ball boy is not giving it to him. He’s got no right, that is ridiculous. He wants that ball and then Aidan Morris gets involved, I mean it’s just so unnecessary, absolutely unnecessary… is it me or are the ball boys getting taller?’
Morris took more of an Eden Hazard approach from all those years ago against Swansea than Targett’s polite request.
And after he ripped the ball away, he was confronted by a number of Southampton substitutes.
The score was 1-1 at the time so it was also the kind of gamesmanship that didn’t suit Saints when they were chasing a winner, just served to wind up Middlesbrough even more.
Harwood-Bellis bust-up
One of the more unsavory incidents involved Roy Keane’s future son in law Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who was accused of using ‘discriminatory’ words towards Luke Ayling.
Ayling was incredulous on the pitch when reacting to what the centre-back said to him and their row spilled onto the touchline.
According to the Athletic, Harwood-Bellis is alleged to have referenced Ayling’s speech impediment, leading to the furious reaction.
Ayling, 34, has a stammer, which can be classed as a disability in UK law under the 2010 Equality Act. Saints have not commented on the accusation.
The referee had to physically separate Hellberg and Eckert after explaining what he’d been told.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis (left) was accused of using discriminatory language towards Luke Ayling (right)
Middlesbrough assistant Adi Viveash had to be held back by the fourth official and the tension between both camps that had been building all tie almost ran out of control.
The FA will now review Madley’s report and decide whether to open up an investigation into Harwood-Bellis’ conduct.
Harwood-Bellis, 24, is set to marry Keane’s daughter Leah in the summer after proposing to her two years ago.
