The EFL has released the written reasons from the League Arbitration Panel’s dismissal of Southampton’s appeal against their expulsion from the Championship play-offs following the Spygate scandal in which they sent observers to surreptitiously watch Town, Middlesbrough and Oxford United training sessions.

In addition to being kicked out of the play-off final in which Hull City beat Boro, who the Saints had defeated in the semi-final, 1-0 to claim a place in the Premier League, the Hampshire side will start next season on minus-four points.

The League Arbitration Panel’s evidence relating to Town being spied upon on the morning of the penultimate fixture of the campaign at Southampton while using nearby National League Eastleigh’s facilities reads:

“The club was scheduled to play Ipswich in a home fixture on the evening of 28 April 2026.

“In preparation, Ipswich trained at Eastleigh Football Club prior to the match. The evidence before the Commission was that Southampton and Eastleigh had a close working relationship.

“[Southampton head coach] Mr [Tonda] Eckert’s evidence before the Commission was that he had understood that someone from Eastleigh had sent CCTV footage of the Ipswich training session to someone at Southampton, the existence of which he [Mr Eckert] knew only a couple of hours before kick-off.

“After a short while, he asked for it to be switched off, so he could concentrate on the pre-match meeting. He said the footage showed nothing of influence, and he made no alterations to the match preparations which were in any event complete by that time.

“However, it was Analyst 1’s evidence that the assistant coach [one of Southampton’s first-team coaches] told him that Mr Eckert had said at an earlier match preparation meeting that ‘someone should go to Eastleigh to look at Ipswich’; and the junior analyst
intern [understood to be Will Salt, who was pictured filming at Middlesbrough’s training ground] said he was approached by the assistant coach to go to Eastleigh to watch Ipswich ‘as the boss is adamant that someone needs to go’.

“The junior analyst intern felt uncomfortable doing this and said, ‘No’, and no further pressure was applied for him to go.

“Analyst 1 also felt uncomfortable: he said in his evidence that he grouped himself with the younger members of the analysis team who were being pressurised into carrying out observations, and he felt pressurised himself.

“Furthermore, at the time of the Ipswich match, he was attending a UEFA coaching course. So, he did not go to observe the Ipswich training session either. But Analyst 2 called him when he was at that course, saying the coaches were insistent that someone should go to Eastleigh, and Analyst 1 called an academy analyst intern, who had worked with Eastleigh before, and he said he would go.

“Analyst 1 asked that he be provided with Eastleigh kit and a legend, ie what his supposed ‘role’ was at Eastleigh.

“The Junior Analyst duly went to Eastleigh and observed the training sessions. Someone at Eastleigh video-recorded the whole session on the morning of the match, this was sent to Southampton. From that footage, the club was able to predict the exact Ipswich team
for the fixture.”

Town made five changes for game at St Mary’s with Leif Davis returning at left-back having missed the 0-0 draw at West Brom on the preceding Saturday, and Dan Neil coming into midfield for Jack Taylor, who missed out with a knee injury.

Wes Burns started wide on the right, making his first start since returning from his calf injury, Marcelino Nunez was at number 10 and Jaden Philogene was on the left.

Southampton initially denied that the spying at Middlesbrough had been carried out at the request of boss Eckert with WhatsApp messages relating to the Town and Oxford incidents having come to light in the course of the club’s investigations and then admitted and submitted to the hearings.

The League Arbitration Panel said of the Town and Oxford spying: “There was clear evidence of sporting advantage, ie that information from the observations had been passed to the senior coaching team at the club, and it had been used in preparation for those matches.”

The Middlesbrough incident led to the play-off expulsion, while the Oxford and Town surveillance led to a four-point deduction, the Independent Commission having reduced that from a starting point of six, three per game.

The League Arbitration Panel, which was chaired by the Rt Hon Sir Gary Hickinbottom, dismissed the appeals against both the expulsion and the points deduction.

Photo: Matchday Images