Southampton has been charged by the EFL due to allegations of spying on a Middlesbrough training session prior to their Championship play-off semi-final on Saturday.
The charge stems from a complaint made by Middlesbrough regarding unauthorized filming by someone associated with Southampton ahead of the match at the Riverside Stadium.
This incident recalls a similar dispute from 2019 when EFL fined Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United £200,000.
On Friday night, the EFL released a statement saying: “Southampton Football Club has today been charged with a breach of EFL Regulations, with the matter being escalated to an Independent Disciplinary Commission.”
“This follows a request from the EFL for the club’s comments after a complaint from Middlesbrough about alleged unauthorized filming on private property before the teams’ match in Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final first leg.”
Southampton faces Middlesbrough in the play-offs on Saturday (Getty)
“The charges relate to EFL Regulation 3.4, which mandates clubs to act with the utmost good faith towards one another, and EFL Regulation 127, which prohibits clubs from observing training sessions of other clubs within 72 hours prior to a scheduled match.”
“Typically, Southampton would have 14 days to respond to these charges. However, due to the urgency of the matter, the EFL plans to request that the Independent Disciplinary Commission expedite the response time and schedule a hearing as quickly as possible.”
“The League will refrain from any further commentary while the proceedings are ongoing.”
This situation mirrors a 2019 incident when a member of Leeds staff was caught acting suspiciously outside Derby County’s training facility just before facing Frank Lampard’s team on January 10, leading to an official apology from Leeds.
Marcelo Bielsa later acknowledged that during the 2018/19 season, he had sent a staff member to observe the training sessions of every opponent, a decision that resulted in the EFL concluding that Leeds did not treat other teams with “good faith.”