{"id":575383,"date":"2026-05-09T21:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/575383\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:29:08","slug":"spygate-playoff-row-deepens-as-boros-hellberg-labels-southampton-cheats-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/575383\/","title":{"rendered":"Spygate playoff row deepens as Boro\u2019s Hellberg labels Southampton \u2018cheats\u2019 | Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southampton\u2019s manager, Tonda Eckert, walked out of the post-match press conference at Middlesbrough<\/a> on Saturday after repeatedly refusing to answer questions about allegations that one of his analysts had spied on Kim Hellberg\u2019s training session last Thursday.<\/p>\n

Shortly afterwards Hellberg said his Middlesbrough team were victims of \u201ccheating\u201d in the lead-up to this vital Championship<\/a> playoff semi-final first leg.<\/p>\n

A clearly uncomfortable, distinctly unhappy looking Eckert is now preparing for not merely Tuesday\u2019s second leg against Hellberg\u2019s Middlesbrough but an English Football League disciplinary commission.<\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours before Saturday\u2019s 0-0 first-leg draw<\/a> in a tie dominated by Boro at the Riverside the EFL charged Southampton with misconduct and, shortly before Hellberg made it clear he felt utterly wronged by the incident, Eckert squirmed uncomfortably in his chair.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideLast-gasp winner gives Stockport playoff edgeShow<\/p>\n

Dave Challinor says Stockport will not relax in the League One play-off semi-final second leg \u2013 despite stealing a march on Stevenage with a last-minute goal and 1-0 first-leg win.<\/p>\n

Benony Andresson had raced through in the final seconds only to stumble on the edge of the box and lose the ball. However, Stevenage seemed to switch off in that moment and Ben Osborn jumped into the gaggle of home defenders and goalkeeper, poking the ball into the empty net.<\/p>\n

It gives County the edge for the return at Edgeley Park on Wednesday, and they will be going all out for another victory. \u201cThe game\u2019s still wide open,\u201d said Challinor. \u201cWe\u2019ve given ourselves a small advantage but we\u2019ve got to make the most of that advantage at home by going and getting the next goal in the tie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll face a really tough test and we\u2019re not thinking about having a lead to defend, it\u2019s a lead that we want to go and extend. We need to win that game and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll try and do. We\u2019ve taken one step, no more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stevenage manager, Alex Revell, was also upbeat, even after the calamity of the winner. He said: \u201cIt was a disappointing goal, absolutely. We could have dealt with the initial ball a bit better and took a 0-0 but it is a mix-up on the edge of our box that shouldn\u2019t happen. It can happen in football.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all disappointed of course because you want to win, but it doesn\u2019t change what we need. If it was 0-0, we\u2019d still have to go up there and win the game.\u201d PA Media<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

In the face of a barrage of questioning about what has become known as spygate, Southampton\u2019s manager kept reiterating. \u201cI think the club has made a statement yesterday evening and that\u2019s all there is to say at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed repeatedly on reports that the analyst had acted unilaterally he maintained a largely awkward silence, merely saying: \u201cI think I\u2019ve said more than enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he had talked about the incident to his players, the 33-year-old said: \u201cNo, there was nothing to say, there was a big job at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hellberg, who, frostily, shook Eckert\u2019s hand but said he did not speak to his Southampton counterparts, was rather more forthcoming, saying: \u201cI think every club in the Championship should be angry about this \u2026 Some people say it [watching an opponents\u2019s pre-match training session] doesn\u2019t give you a big advantage. That\u2019s wrong; it\u2019s a massive advantage. Without it [spying] it would have been impossible for them to know our shape in the first half. We have never used that shape before today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just unfair. It\u2019s not OK. There was anger. There\u2019s a loss of respect. It makes me disappointed. It was a big game and they saw everything we were doing \u2013 set pieces, goal-kicks, everything.<\/p>\n

The Swede, who also said a fine would be insufficient punishment as it fails to provide a proper deterrent, revealed he could barely credit what he was being told when club officials informed him of the incident. \u201cIt was a weird situation. I couldn\u2019t believe it when they told me. They had to tell me two or three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel sorry for Southampton\u2019s supporters and players,\u201d he added. \u201cThey are brilliant and do not deserve to have this thrown back at them. They had nothing to do with it. But someone at Southampton has made a decision to go and cheat. That\u2019s clear. It\u2019s just wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southampton\u2019s manager, Tonda Eckert, walked out of the post-match press conference at Middlesbrough on Saturday after repeatedly refusing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-575383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}