Southampton

For those associated with the club, the desire to watch a successful team next season is blended with a need to shake off the damage Eckert’s actions have caused.

One of the more egregious conclusions drawn by the EFL investigation into Southampton’s practices was that the young analyst intern who was caught spying outside Middlesbrough’s training ground had raised concerns about the task he was given, but was put “under extreme pressure” to carry it out by more senior personnel, including Eckert.

In many workplaces, a senior staff member pressuring a junior colleague into performing a task which violates industry rules would be met with a swift and significant punishment.

But Solak told BBC Sport that the intern was at fault for not kicking up more of a fuss, saying: “I believe that our junior intern felt personally it’s wrong, and he didn’t feel right for doing this, and I think he should have expressed that stronger.”

Solak insisted he has subsequently offered the intern analyst a full-time job with the club.

But the treatment of a young, inexperienced member of staff has raised concerns about the club’s culture.

“The club has lacked in terms of leading on the problem, and sorting out their own mess,” Tessem adds.

“I hope they have all learned a very harsh lesson. When you’ve been caught red handed, you need to take responsibility for the situation.”

If Southampton do manage to keep Eckert in his job, then the question of whether the club really has learned that lesson will continue to be asked.

Southampton back Tonda Eckert despite missing out on a playoff final for a Premier League place due to spying scandal.

Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has apologised for orchestrating the “spygate” scandal that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship playoffs, as owner Dragan Solak insisted that he would not sack the German.

“For everything that’s happened, I do want to apologise, and I hold my hand up because as a head coach I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club,” Eckert said in a video statement on Tuesday.

The Saints were kicked out of last month’s playoff final after admitting they had observed a training session held by semifinal opponents Middlesbrough, as well as two other similar incidents during the season.

They also received a four-point deduction that will be applied to the 2026-27 Championship table, while the Football Association has opened its own investigation and could yet charge Eckert.

An independent disciplinary commission of the English Football League (EFL) ruled that there had been a “contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage” through spying missions.

It said Eckert had authorised the tactics, highlighting the “particularly deplorable” use of junior members of staff to conduct clandestine operations.

Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 over two legs in the playoff semifinals, but Boro were reinstated, going on to lose in the final to Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League.

The prize for the winners of the final is regarded as the most lucrative in world football, with the winners joining the richest domestic league in the world. Hull will receive an estimated 200 million pounds ($268m) in extra income.

Eckert, who was appointed head coach in December, put out an eight-minute video statement about the scandal on Southampton’s social media channels.

The 33-year-old said: “I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship [with fans] back up, the season has come to an end, come to an end that couldn’t have left us in a worse place than we are in right now.”

He claimed that observing other teams was routine in other countries, though he admitted that this was not an excuse for his actions in the English second tier.

“When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup that we’ve chosen for the games was always out in the media before games,” he said.

“And the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed from the media and have always been observed from opponent teams that we came up against.

“[Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this in his time at Bayern Munich, that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.”

Many had anticipated Eckert would lose his job after Southampton’s expulsion from the playoffs, but chairman Solak gave robust backing to Eckert in his own post on the club’s channels on Tuesday.

“Tonda’s period as our head coach has been a success so far. Our form during 2026 has been remarkable, and we believe he is the man to take us forward,” Solak said.

“As a board, we are fully behind him, and together we only have one objective – we want promotion back to Premier League.”

Solak told the BBC separately that Tonda had been subject to a witch-hunt in the media, saying he believed the club had been “over-sentenced”.

The Serbian, whose media company acquired a majority stake in the south-coast club in 2022, said: “I believe Tonda that he didn’t know that it was the rule that he was breaking.

“My personal opinion, and the opinion of the board, is that he is a manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us.”

The EFL’s commission said it was “deplorable” of the club to have used junior staff members to “conduct the clandestine observations”.

Solak admitted that such a culture was “unacceptable”, but he blamed “a huge amount of misunderstanding, ignorance and arrogance, we have dysfunctions in the club, but we will actually make an effort for people to understand that whoever orders them to do something, that is putting them out of their comfort zone, they have every right to refuse”.

When asked about the analyst intern who had been sent to spy on opposition training sessions, and who had been caught doing so at Middlesbrough, Solak said: “I don’t see really this culture when somebody is really making junior staff do something they don’t want.

“I believe that our junior intern felt personally it’s wrong, and he didn’t feel right for doing this, and I think he should have expressed that stronger. I’m pretty sure that if [he had] come to us, the top management, actually it would be the seniors who would be punished, not him.

“I have a lot of pity. I’m sorry for what he had to go through. And we obviously would like him to stay in the club and we offered him a prolonged job with the club.”

When asked how he felt about the club staff other than Eckert who were aware of the spying, Solak said, “This whole thing was happening within the environment of our analysts. I think we have a couple of guys that are foreign analysts, so for them you could say probably that they didn’t have a clue that this was against the rules. And then we have probably five or six British analysts. How come they either didn’t know or they didn’t tell? I don’t know. But this is something that will be additional soul-searching for us. Tonda came out and said ‘it was my mistake. Ultimately I did wrong.’ And by this action he gave time to everybody below him not to take investigation or punishment, in a way. But I am definitely very focused that we come to the understanding of this because this is the only way it will never happen again.”

It has been reported that some of Southampton’s players want to leave and may even consider taking legal action against the club over lost promotion bonuses. The team beat Middlesbrough over two legs to reach the play-off final, before they were ejected from the competition.

Solak said: “Honestly, it’s on them to decide. I had a very open conversation with them, and they were actually very nice. And you could see that they are hurting. But through that, they still behaved as gentlemen. You go through things, but life is fair.

“If you are a player of Southampton that really has quality to play in Premier League, I’m pretty sure you’ll play in Premier League this season or the next.”

Southampton FC and Royal Antwerp have announced the death of former academy player Victor Udoh at the age of 21.

Udoh spent six months in Saints’ academy from February 2025, featuring in eight games for their Under-21 side in Premier League 2.

Before his move to the south coast of England, he played in Belgian side Antwerp’s academy and made 28 appearances in their first team.

After leaving Southampton in September, the Nigerian left-winger joined Czech second tier side Ceske Budejovice.

“We are devastated by the tragic passing of former player Victor Udoh at the age of 21,” Southampton posted on X., external

“The thoughts of everyone at the club go out to Victor’s loved ones at this extremely difficult time.”

Udoh joined Antwerp’s academy in 2023 and played 27 times for their ‘Young Reds’ team, scoring 12 goals, and went on to make his first team debut in the same season.

“With great dismay, RAFC has learned of the passing of former player Victor Udoh,” Royal Antwerp posted., external

“Our thoughts are with Victor’s family, friends, and loved ones. We wish them much strength, support, and warmth during this particularly difficult time.”

Southampton admitted spying on Middlesbrough before the first leg of the play-off semi-final, along with Oxford United at Christmas and Ipswich Town last month.

When Saints hosted Ipswich on 28 April, the two teams were in direct competition vying to finish second and earn automatic promotion. The game ended 2-2.

Southampton have no further right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Championship play-off final will now go ahead at Wembley on Saturday between Hull City and Middlesbrough (15:30 BST kick-off), with a place in the Premier League on the line.

The fixture is dubbed as the most lucrative game in world football, with promotion worth a minimum of £200m in broadcast revenue and parachute payments.

“A league arbitration panel has dismissed Southampton Football Club’s appeal against the independent disciplinary commission’s sanction following the admittance of multiple breaches of EFL regulations,” the EFL said on Wednesday evening.

Saints called the ruling “an extremely disappointing outcome”.

It added: “While we fully acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the scrutiny that has followed, the club has consistently believed the original sporting sanction was disproportionate, a view that has been widely shared by many in the football community over the last 24 hours.”

Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic told a news conference before the final that his club had become “collateral damage” in the drama.

“We can say everything is unfair in this last two weeks. You don’t know what’s going on,” he told BBC Radio Humberside.

The Tigers’ owner, Acun Ilicali, told Sky Sports on Wednesday that he was unhappy that his club must face different opponents at short notice, and did not rule out legal action should they lose the final.

But Ilicali conceded that there was no other option but to play the fixture against Boro “in order to finish this mess”.

Southampton’s appeal against being thrown out of the Championship play-off final for spying has been rejected.

The match will now go ahead on Saturday between Hull City and Middlesbrough (15:30 BST kick-off), with a place in the Premier League on the line.

An EFL independent disciplinary commission on Tuesday evening expelled Southampton from the play-offs and reinstated Middlesbrough, who had lost 2-1 to the Saints on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Southampton appealed against their removal, calling it “manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game”. However, the EPL has rejected Saints’ appeal and upheld the punishment.

“A league arbitration panel has tonight dismissed Southampton Football Club’s appeal against the independent disciplinary commission’s sanction following the admittance of multiple breaches of EFL regulations,” the EFL said on Wednesday.

“The determination means that the original sanction of expulsion from the Championship play-offs remains in place, as does the four-point deduction to be applied to the 2026-27 Championship table and the reprimand in respect of all charges.”

The decision is final and there is no further right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Southampton issued a statement calling the decision “an extremely disappointing outcome”.

It added: “While we fully acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the scrutiny that has followed, the club has consistently believed the original sporting sanction was disproportionate, a view that has been widely shared by many in the football community over the last 24 hours.

“While tonight is a painful moment, this football club will respond with humility, accountability and determination to put things right.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Southampton chief executive Phil Parsons said the club could not “accept a sanction which bears no proportion to the offence”.

Parsons pointed to a £200,000 fine issued to Leeds United in 2019 for spying on Derby as evidence of precedent.

However, when Leeds were punished seven years ago, regulation 127 – which expressly forbids observing an opponent within 72 hours of a game – did not exist. It was introduced as a result of Leeds’ wrongdoing.

Wrexham’s dream of reaching the Premier League is over, for this season anyway.

And for Ryan Reynolds, it was tough to stomach.

“I am completely gutted by today’s result but incredibly proud of our season,” the actor wrote on X after the Welsh club he co-owns missed out on a place in the playoffs in the second-tier Championship by drawing 2-2 with Middlesbrough in a dramatic final round of the regular season on Saturday.

That allowed Hull to jump ahead of Wrexham and into sixth place — the fourth and final spot in the playoffs — courtesy of a 2-1 win over Norwich in a match played at the same time.

The winning goal for Hull, by Oli McBurnie in the 67th, appeared to be scored from an offside position but there are no video reviews in the English Football League.

It ended Wrexham’s unprecedented run of three straight promotions under its famous owners — a streak that began by getting out of the fifth tier in the 2022-23 season and has been documented in the globally popular, Emmy Award-winning “Welcome to Wrexham” series.

Still, seventh place marked the Wrexham’s highest finish in its history, bettering the 15th position it achieved in the second tier in the 1978–79 season.

“We’ve come a long way in five years and this was the best result in our 150+ year history,” Reynolds wrote alongside a graphic that showed how Wrexham has risen from the National League. “More to do. But for now, we have so much to be proud of, Reds.”

Elsewhere, Ipswich secured the second automatic promotion spot behind champion Coventry — and an immediate return to the Premier League — by beating Queens Park Rangers 3-0.

Ipswich is owned by U.S. investment group Gamechanger 20 Limited and counts pop star Ed Sheeran as a minority shareholder.

Joining Hull in the playoffs, which begin next week and are over two legs, are Millwall, Southampton and Middlesbrough.

Millwall will face Hull, and Southampton will meet Middlesbrough.

Best-ever finish by Wrexham

It was a memorable campaign by Wrexham in its first season in the second tier since the 1980s.

However, the short-term pain was acute, and Wrexham’s players sat on the ground and looked disconsolate after the final whistle — even though the Hull-Norwich match hadn’t finished.

Wrexham started the day in sixth place, ahead of Hull on goal difference, and conceded in the fourth minute to Middlesbrough, only to score through Josh Windass and Sam Smith for a 2-1 lead by the 41st.

Middlesbrough hit back immediately with a 43rd-minute equalizer but Wrexham finished the stronger, squandering a string of great late chances for a winner that would have secured a playoff place on goal difference.

Wrexham’s Josh Windass squats on the field and looks dejected following a draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday.

(Michael Steele / Getty Images)

In the end, Wrexham finished two points behind Hull.

“This squad as it stands, with a preseason together, will be even stronger next year,” said Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson, who oversaw a summer spend of around $40 million last year.

“Of course we’ll always look to add to that to try and give ourselves an even better chance … we know where we’d like to strengthen and what we need to improve on. We’ll do that and we’ll make this squad as strong as we possibly can to mount a challenge next year.”

Douglas writes for the Associated Press.