Darren Potter

🚨💣🧵 Some staggering details taken from @TeleFootball’s piece on Southampton’s alleged Middlesbrough spying mission… • The ‘spy’ had professional surveillance equipment, complete with a microphone to record voices and technology to livestream the footage back to someone watching remotely. It is claimed the man filming the session had professional filming equipment, complete with a microphone powerful enough to pick up the voice of manager Kim Hellberg and his coaching staff as they issued training instructions. • Middlesbrough have since been told by whistleblowers that this is not the first time a member of Southampton’s analyst team has been sent to record opposition training sessions this season. • Middlesbrough have informed the English Football League that they view this as a clear and obvious case of cheating and are seeking the *harshest possible punishment*. A wide range of action is possible when dealing with cases such as these, including points deductions, fines and *potential expulsion from the play-offs*. • With that in mind, the club feel they are already at a big disadvantage heading into the two-legged tie and *they believe their opponents are already aware of their starting XI for the first leg*. If they change it, they would not be picking the manager’s first-choice side. • The deadline for those observations to be returned to the EFL was set at 1pm on Friday but *Southampton are accused of missing it.* Middlesbrough suspect their Championship rivals are playing for time and hope to avoid admitting any wrongdoing until after the game on Saturday. • Middlesbrough privately believe a fine would not be much of a deterrent in this case given the benefits of gaining an unfair advantage ahead of a game of this magnitude. • They will push for the harshest possible sanction with owner *Steve Gibson probably set to raise the matter directly with his Southampton counterparts in the Riverside boardroom on Saturday*. #Boro | #UTB | #SaintsFC

From the 26/27 season, the #SkyBetChampionship Play-Offs will be expanded to six teams. Read more: efl.com/news/2026/marc… #EFL