The EFL has issued a scathing assessment of Southampton’s tactics during the Spygate scandal, finding that Saints manager Tonda Eckert orchestrated a “contrived and determined plan” to violate league rules and secure an unfair advantage ahead of the clubs’ play-off showdown.
The Independent Disciplinary Commission, which presided over Southampton’s violations of EFL regulations, has now published its comprehensive reasons behind the decision to kick the Saints out of the play-offs due to their “deplorable” conduct. Eckert’s team were ousted from the tournament before their final against Hull and slapped with a four-point deduction for next season after confessing to spying on Middlesbrough, as well as two other teams during the campaign.
It has since come to light that Southampton have also been reprimanded for forcing a junior staff member into carrying out the spying mission. It is alleged that the employee was pressured into participating despite deeming the act to be ‘morally wrong’.
In its verdict, the commission outlined the reasoning behind Southampton’s expulsion from the play-off final. Notably, the lucrative reward at stake in the play-offs played a crucial role and necessitated a sporting sanction in their opinion.
The panel concluded that a points deduction during the season could lead teams to view the breaches as ‘a risk worth taking’, while a financial penalty would be insignificant given the wealth associated with Premier League promotion.
The commission stated: “We have concluded that there was, on the part of the Respondent [Southampton], a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage in competitions of real significance by deliberate attendance at opposition training grounds for the purpose of obtaining tactical and selection information.
“It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations and analysis of footage and observations.”
Key deliberations are as follows:
“37. We consider that a particular aggravating feature, which distinguishes Charges 1 and 2 from the other charges, was the willingness of the Respondent to act in breach of Regulation 127 in a competition which is one of the most prestigious and important in English Football. It has not only reputational significance but considerable financial consequences and benefits for a club in the event of success in the competition and promotion to the Premier League.
“38. The integrity of the Play-Off competition was seriously violated, and the actions of the Respondent constituted a deliberate attempt to obtain an unfair advantage. For that reason, Charges 1 and 2 attract a much more serious sanction which in this case must result in expulsion from the Competition.
“We have considered whether a lesser sanction would be possible or appropriate while achieving the aim of the rule which has been breached. Were this event to take place during the regular season a points deduction or other sanction could be applied which would strip any sporting advantage and achieve the aims of the rule by making such activities not worth the risk. In the Play-Offs such a position is not possible.
“Points deductions for the regular season might still be a risk worth taking if it enhanced the possibility of promotion. A financial penalty, as proposed by the Respondent would not be effective at this stage in the competition since the financial rewards on offer for a team which is promoted to the Premier League through the PlayOffs would render any penalty meaningless. Perversely this may act as an incentive for clubs to breach Regulation 127 and pay the fine in an effort to increase the chance of promotion.
“39. So far as the remaining charges are concerned, we took a starting point of a three points per incident. As indicated above a sanction at this level achieves the aim of the rule since it effectively makes breach of Regulation 127 a zero-sum game. The six-point deduction was mitigated to four points to reflect the available mitigation, including the Respondent’s acceptance of the charges, co-operation (although it is not accepted that this was unqualified) and their proffering of information in relation to the OU Incident and IT Incident (although we accept that they were on notice from the initial letter of 8 May that the EFL were investigating another incident and so these admissions were not entirely unprompted). We did not consider that a financial sanction was required in addition.
“40. In addition to the sporting sanctions a reprimand is considered appropriate in the present case because of the way in which junior members of staff were put under pressure to carry out activities which they felt were, at the least, morally wrong. Such staff were in a vulnerable position without job security and with limited ability to object to, or resist the instructions given to them.”
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