Kim Hellberg on Spygate : 'I think it’s absolutely terrible'

Kim Hellberg on Spygate: 'I think it’s absolutely terrible'

Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg was left frustrated about Tuesday night's Championship play-off semi-final defeat to Southampton following the 'Spygate' scandal.

The Saints have been charged by the English Football League for allegedly observing Boro's training sessions in the lead up to the play-offs with the club yet to deny any involvement.

Southampton went on to win 2-1 at St. Mary's on Tuesday after a Shea Charles strike in the 116th minute.

Speaking after the match, Hellberg didn't hold back on what had happened off the field in recent days.

"If we didn’t catch that man who they sent up, five hours to drive, you would sit here and say ‘well done’ maybe in the tactical aspects of the game and I would go home and feel like I have failed in that aspect that I had to help my players," Hellberg said about the Southampton analyst found near Boro's training ground.

"But when that is taken away from you, when someone decides: ‘Nah, we’re not going to watch every game, we’ll send someone instead, we’ll film the session, and see everything, and hope they don’t get caught’ – I guess that’s why they were switching clothes and all those things – it breaks my heart, in terms of all those things I believe in. I don’t care if there are different rules in other countries."

"If we didn’t catch the person, I’d be sitting here thinking I should’ve done better things. We spend all that time away from family, all of our coaches trying to get a fair way to win a game of that magnitude and then people are talking [about a] fine for breaking that one that means you go again and take those people with more money.

"I think it’s absolutely terrible and again it has nothing to do with the players of Southampton, they deserve all the credit for what they’ve done, it has nothing to do with their supporters. We will see what will happen."

Meanwhile, Hellberg's opposite number Tonda Eckert left the press conference after being asked directly by a journalist whether he was a 'cheat' following the charges.