Middlesbrough fury at ‘spying’ row as ‘venomous’ welcome awaits Southampton

Middlesbrough remain furious with Southampton after catching a man they believe is a member of Tonda Eckert’s backroom staff allegedly spying on a vital training session before Saturday’s Championship playoff semi-final first leg at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro have reported the incident to the English Football League, as spying on opposition training is in breach of their regulations. The EFL is investigating the alleged misconduct and, as of Friday, were still waiting for an explanation of what happened from Southampton. Boro want the disciplinary process to be expedited but, as things stand, expect Saturday’s game to proceed as planned.

If the EFL charges Southampton with misconduct it is understood that Steve Gibson, Boro’s owner, will expect the south-coast club to receive a severe sanction. Under a rule introduced to deal specifically with spying in 2019, such cases are dealt with by an independent disciplinary panel, which has the power to impose a wide range of punishments, ranging from reprimands to fines, points deductions and, in extreme cases, expulsion from the competition.

Southampton have 14 days to respond to allegations that one of their employees was caught filming Kim Hellberg, Boro’s manager, taking training at the club’s Rockliffe Park base near Darlington after being spotted hiding in bushes. It is understood Middlesbrough possess CCTV footage of an incident that concluded with the man they allege is a Southampton first-team performance analyst entering a toilet at the adjacent Rockliffe Hall hotel and re-emerging with a changed appearance.

EFL regulations state that the 14-day timeframe can be “abridged” in exceptional circumstances but, with St Mary’s due to host the second leg on Tuesday night, accelerating the disciplinary process presents a tricky logistical challenge. Moreover, should the EFL charge Southampton and an independent disciplinary panel find them guilty, subsequent sanctions could be informed by two wildly differing precedents involving the former Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa and the former Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman.

In 2019, Leeds were fined £200,000 and reprimanded after a member of Bielsa’s staff was spotted watching Derby train ahead of a Championship match against Frank Lampard’s then side. At that time, the EFL had no specific anti-spying rule but found Leeds had breached regulation 3.4 that states clubs must act “with utmost good faith” towards each other. After ‘Bielsa-gate’ it introduced the new rule stating: “No club shall directly or indirectly oversee [or attempt to observe] another club’s training stadium in the period of 72 hours prior to any match scheduled to be played between those respective clubs.”