FootBiz newsletter #168: EFL chaos over Saints verdict, what now for CFG?
Lawsuits abound in the Champo, while City Football Group reaches a fork in the road
Alright, well we weren’t expecting that.
Saturday's Championship playoff final at Wembley is, by virtue of Southampton's quite shocking expulsion this week, immediately the most unusual in the competition's history.
Yes, in case you missed it, Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs after admitting to multiple instances of spying on their opponents and their vanquished semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, who coughed up a great chance at automatic promotion with a terrible end to their season, will now play Hull City in the play-off final.
After discovering the spy, Boro were the ones fuming. Now, pretty much everyone except Boro seems to be pissed off about this whole thing.
Steve Gibson and the Middlesbrough hierarchy pushed for the maximum sanction against Southampton and it’s fair to say they got it. Whether that judgment translates into Premier League football next season is now entirely in their hands, but even if they win, you can expect Hull City (one of the worst teams in the Championship according to some underlying metrics!) to potentially mount a legal challenge if Boro are victorious at Wembley. Some at Hull feel they should have been given automatic passage to the Premier League when Saints were thrown out. You can at least see their argument as the only team to have won a play-off semi-final legitimately.
Elsewhere, Wrexham (always keen on a headline) are analysing their options after finishing one place outside the playoffs. The EFL’s investigation found (and Southampton admitted to) other instances of spying earlier in the season, which could be deemed to have denied them a shot at the £200m pot of gold. Oxford United, one team who Saints (ironic nickname, huh) admitted to spying on, were relegated and may try and claim they were affected — though they didn’t actually lose the relevant fixture.
Boro are now in the play-off final after Southampton’s expulsion
Sport Republic, the owners of Southampton, also have some big decisions to make. The EFL’s written reasons are pretty damning and make clear that interns, the most junior people at the club, were pressured into breaking the rules on by senior leadership and “specifically” given instructions by head coach Tonda Eckert. His future, and that of sporting director Johannes Spors, is mired in doubt after what an independent disciplinary panel described as a "contrived and determined plan from the top down".
These ugly scenes are perhaps unsurprising when promotion is worth a conservative £200m in broadcast revenue alone over three seasons, plus the commercial and sponsorship uplift of top-flight football. Everyone is willing to pursue whatever avenue, legal or otherwise, to improve their chances of reaching the promised land. Southampton just stepped over the line.
All of which lends Saturday’s final a rather odd feeling, with the compressed timelines surrounding ticketing and logistics making it a squeeze for travelling fans and there remains a feeling that, should Boro win, this won’t be the last we hear of it.
In the next few days we should hear about the fate of Eckert, Spors and others at Southampton who have not only embarrassed the club, but potentially cost them more than just promotion. Spare a thought for the an analysts, too, who may never work in football again. They made poor decisions, but were forced into it by senior management who knew the rules and knew they were breaking them.
As wild a ride as this has all been, we should at least have some resolution this weekend.
As wild a ride as this has all been, the fallout will have nothing on when the Manchester City verdict drops.
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