Ranking the eight Championship promotion contenders we most want to see in the Premier League<\/a><\/p>\nHowever, the EFL have now acknowledged that the game may have to be rescheduled, with a hearing to determine Southampton\u2019s fate due to take place next Tuesday. If they are found guilty, potential punishments include a fine, points deduction or elimination from the play-offs.<\/p>\n
The EFL said in a statement on Thursday evening: \u2018The EFL can today provide an interim update on the ongoing disciplinary proceedings involving Southampton following Tuesday\u2019s Championship Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Independent Disciplinary Commission hearing will take place on or before Tuesday, 19 May.<\/p>\n
\u2018The exact date remains under discussion and is expected to be confirmed shortly.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Commission will issue its decision as soon as possible following consideration of the relevant submissions and evidence.<\/p>\n
\u2018As the proceedings are being conducted by an Independent Disciplinary Commission, the EFL does not control the proposed timetable.<\/p>\n
\u2018Notwithstanding this, the EFL continues to plan on the basis that the Championship Play-Off Final will take place as scheduled on Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time confirmed as 4.30pm.<\/p>\n
\u2018Supporters should, however, be aware that the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings may yet result in changes to the fixture.<\/p>\n
\u2018The EFL has a number of contingency plans should they be required, which also includes consideration of any appeal process, if required.\u2019<\/p>\n
Leeds United were previously fined \u00a3200,000 for a similar incident, but there are now grounds for a more serious punishment after the EFL implemented a rule in the guidelines to try to prevent a repeat of this situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthampton should absolutely face the full force of what the EFL and the independent commission throw at them\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex-Aston Villa star Gabby Agbonlahor and journalist Henry Winter have provided differing opinions on how Southampton should be punished if they are found guilty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t agree with it. It\u2019s overkill,\u201d Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get it, Spygate, it\u2019s not on. But what would they really learn from watching Middlesbrough training? That\u2019s why it\u2019s so bizarre from Southampton. What are you going to learn that you can\u2019t see in every video of Middlesbrough\u2019s games this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re by far the better team for me, it\u2019s very odd.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThey say there\u2019s a chance of Middlesbrough going [into the play-off final], it\u2019s not going to happen. It\u2019s too much of a short turnaround.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouthampton players haven\u2019t done anything, fans haven\u2019t done anything, it\u2019s the club, the manager that\u2019s allowed that to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cA massive fine and move on, I don\u2019t think you can start saying Boro get the final or Hull go straight up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Journalist Henry Winter added: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a grey area. It depends on how we want to play sport in this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cKim Hellberg has coached Middlesbrough in the right way, and to think that someone was spying on them\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that link [between the individual spying and the club] is proved, then Southampton should absolutely face the full force of what the EFL and the independent commission throw at them.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeeds United had a \u00a3200,000 fine. A fine is irrelevant, clubs are wealthy, they can deal with it, there\u2019s so much at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EFL have revealed an \u2018interim update\u2019 regarding \u2018Spygate\u2019 and its potential impact on the Championship play-off final,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[50072,42,1100,41452,195352,43,24829,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-449598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-championship","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-hull-city","tag-middlesbrough","tag-news","tag-southampton","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}