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Southampton's appeal against their expulsion from the Championship play-off final has been rejected, handing a massive win to Middlesbrough.
football360.com.au
It’s official! Socceroos into play-off final despite appeal against ‘largest penalty ever imposed on English club’
Australians Riley McGree and Sammy Silvera will be at Wembley on Saturday for a shot at promotion to the Premier League, after Southampton’s appeal against their expulsion from the Championship play-off final was rejected on Thursday morning (AEST).
The Saints had been hoping to overturn the decision from a day earlier, when the EFL found them guilty of spying on a Boro training session ahead of their play-off semi-final.
EFL Communications
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A League Arbitration Panel has today dismissed Southampton Football Club’s appeal against the Independent Disciplinary Commission’s decision in respect of breaches of EFL Regulations.
As a result, the original sanction remains in force.
Southampton’s expulsion from the Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs stands, alongside the four-point deduction to be applied to the Club’s 2026/27 Championship record and the reprimand in respect of all charges.
In accordance with EFL Regulations, the decision of the League Arbitration Panel is final.
Following the conclusion of the proceedings, the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final between Hull City and Middlesbrough is confirmed as taking place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 23 May, kicking off at 3.30pm."
There is no further avenue for appeal, with the decision by the EFL’s League Arbitration Panel final.
Speaking before the appeal had been officially rejected, the club’s CEO, Phil Parsons, claimed Southampton’s expulsion from the play-off final and a four-point deduction for next season is a “sanction which bears no proportion to the offence”.
Southampton were thrown out of Saturday’s Championship play-off final – the richest game in world football – after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough in one of the harshest punishments imposed in the English game.
Middlesbrough, who have Socceroos Riley McGree and Sammy Silvera in their ranks, have n
ow been reinstated and will face Hull City for a place in the Premier League at Wembley on Saturday.
Southampton had been hoping their appeal against the decision by the Independent Disciplinary Commission would be successful, but the final ruling released by the EFL on Thursday morning (AEST) killed off any hope the club had of playing in the play-off final.
“On the appeal itself: we accept that there should be a sanction. What we cannot accept is a sanction which bears no proportion to the offence,” Parsons said in a statement.
“Whereas Leeds United was fined £200,000 ($A376,000) for a similar offence, Southampton has been denied the opportunity to compete in a game worth more than
£200million ($A376 million) and one which means so much to our staff, players and supporters.
“We believe the financial consequence of yesterday’s ruling makes it, by a very considerable distance, the largest penalty ever imposed on an English football club.”
Even a single season in the Premier League, followed by immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth around
£200 million over three seasons through broadcast revenue, sponsorship and parachute payments.
In 2019, Leeds were fined
£200,000 and reprimanded for spying on Derby County. The Leeds boss at that time, Marcelo Bielsa, admitted his staff had watched all the club’s opponents in training that season.
Parsons listed examples of other sanctions such as Luton Town’s 30-point deduction in 2008-09 for a club in League Two (fourth-tier) but with “no comparable revenue at stake” as well as Derby’s 21-point deduction in 2021 that cost them their Championship status.
“We say this not to minimise what occurred at this club, which we have accepted was wrong. We say it because proportionality is itself a principle of natural justice,” Parsons added.
“The Commission was entitled to impose a sanction. It was not, we will argue, entitled to impose one that is manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game.”
Former England internationals Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer shared surprise at the severity of the punishment on
The Rest is Football podcast.
Lineker said: “I’m not sure the crime warrants this punishment. I mean, it’s got like a little guy with an iPhone filming. It’s gone on forever that sort of thing and I don’t really know what anyone gets out of it.
“It is breaking the rules, we know that. But I don’t know. A giant fine would have probably sufficed.”
Former Southampton striker Shearer said ahead of the appeal: “I’m with you in terms of the crime and the punishment.”
