talkSPORT hosts clash after EFL accused of ‘making up’ Southampton’s play-off expulsion

Southampton’s play-off final expulsion is set to become one of football’s most contentious talking points.

Just moments after the axe abruptly fell on Southampton’s season – pending Wednesday’s appeal hearing – the airwaves sparked into life with, as always, some compelling listening.

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The Saints were found guilty of breaching EFL regulations on multiple occasions throughout the season. Southampton later confirmed that they would be appealing the ban.

The decision, taken just four days before the scheduled play-off final against Hull at Wembley, is unprecedented in English football.

The Spygate saga means Middlesbrough will now face Hull on Saturday despite Southampton fans having sold out their 37,000 ticket allocation.

To add insult to injury, Saints have been hit with a four-point deduction in the Championship next season.

According to the Independent, the Football Association is considering charging Southampton manager Tonda Eckert with misconduct over the controversy.

It could see the German head coach handed a lengthy ban from football which could last anywhere between six and 18 months.

The football world has been left stunned by the news and in particular, the punishments handed down by the EFL for Southampton’s misdemeanors.

The decision has left many split on whether the punishment fits the crime and that was evident in a live debate between talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham and Perry Groves.

It’s fair to say the pair were at adds with one another with Durham praising the outcome while Groves was unconvinced by the sanctions handed to the south-coast club.

Durham: The right decision

“I predicted this would happen. I knew this would happen. It had to happen. You can’t have rules that then get broken and there’s no punishment,” Durham said on air.

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“And if Southampton, as has been proven now, according to the EFL, have broken those rules, they need punishing.

“How can you let a team that has cheated the rules go to Wembley? That makes no sense whatsoever.

“And you’re talking about the last caller talking about a can of worms. I don’t agree with that at all. It’s only a can of worms if somebody else has been cheating and spying.

“This is specifically for spying on opponents. So I don’t see why it’s only a can of worms unless somebody else has been cheating.”

Groves hit back at Durham as he suggested that spying is not clearly against the rules.

And that prompted Durham to provide a deep dive into Southampton’s misconduct in a bid to assess why the EFL had come to their decision.

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“It depends on the extent of it,” Durham added. “What they’ve done is they found out that Southampton spied on Middlesbrough, they spied on Ipswich before the draw in April.

“They spied on Oxford United – which is baffling because Oxford got relegated in the end and they actually lost that game. They spied on Oxford and lost.

“I mean, it just makes no sense whatsoever. But listen, there’s been cases of it before. that have been proven.

“They’ve got three examples of it.”

The talkSPORT host continued: “So I don’t know what you can put as the punishment.

“You have to take each individual case on the issues that are involved, i.e. how often did it happen? What were the consequences of it happening? And what do we have to do as a deterrent to stop it happening again?

“And I’m all for the EFL with this one. I think they have to do this. The question mark remains about should Middlesbrough be in the play-off final having lost the semi-final?

“I’m actually in favour of that. You have to have a play-off final. There’s sponsors involved. There’s a crowd involved.

“You have to have a play-off final. So I’m all for Middlesbrough being in that final. I have no problem with this whatsoever.

“And I heard Perry saying that the reason Middlesbrough didn’t win the semi-final was because they couldn’t finish chances. Well, how on earth does he know that Southampton weren’t spying to try and see who was the weakest finisher?

“Let’s channel the ball in his direction and he’s probably not going to score. I mean, it’s just ludicrous to say that the spying hasn’t helped them. Of course it has.”

Groves: ‘It was no big deal’

Groves then claimed Southampton’s spying was therefore an insignificant action as it didn’t always work in their favour.

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“Hey, you just backed up my point. You just said they spied on Oxford and they got beat. So it’s not that big a deal,” the former Arsenal star said.

“And when you’re in a game, you’re not going to, as the game’s gone on, go: ‘All right, we’ll let that player have the chance, because all those chances fell to different players’.

“So I’m just saying, as a player, I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

Durham responded: “Well, that’s not true. Tommy Conway had a hat trick of chances and didn’t put any of them away.

“If you watch the game. The Oxford game, hold on, the Oxford game, anything can happen in 90 minutes of football. You know that and I know that.

“You spy to try and get an advantage. You spy on training for that reason. And sometimes it will give you an advantage. I believe it gave them an advantage against Middlesbrough.

“It may even have given them an advantage against Ipswich when they got a draw. So I can’t see what the issue is here. They cheated. They’ve broken the rules.

“The EFL’s decided on the punishment. I can’t see what your issue is here.”

Groves then delved deeper into his issues with the outcome and claimed the EFL’s punishment was inauthentic.

“Because they’ve made it up. They’ve made the punishment up,” he fired back at Durham.

“If the punishment was enforced and it said after Bielsa, if you get caught spying, then you’re going to be chucked out either the play-offs or you get a 10, 15 point deduction.

“But the punishment wasn’t put down in their rules.”

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Durham also reserved criticism for Southampton skipper Taylor Harwood-Bellis who was seen celebrating in last week’s semi-final second-leg win over Middlesbrough by mimicking binoculars.

He said: “I think as well, you mentioned the Taylor Harwood-Bellis thing – the binoculars in celebration of a goal.

“I mean, this is the captain of Southampton Football Club and he’s just making light of this situation.

“And hopefully that’s counted against Southampton as well in this because you can’t have the captain and leader of a football club doing that on the pitch.

“Hopefully, they’ll learn a lesson. Absolutely ridiculous for them.”