All too often a football match doesn’t live up to the hype.
As Southampton’s players danced on the pitch and their fans sang about a return to Wembley and a chance to gain promotion to the Premier League, opponents Middlesbrough were crestfallen and wondering how it had ended like this after a week dominated by a spying row involving the two teams.
Over two energy-sapping legs and more than three-and-a-half hours of football, Southampton required a 116th-minute winner from Shea Charles to come from behind on the night and eliminate Middlesbrough from the Championship play-offs and advance to the final against Hull City on Saturday, May 23.
And all of this came after Southampton were charged by the English Football League (EFL) after Middlesbrough lodged a formal complaint over allegations of “unauthorised filming” on May 7, two days before their first leg at the Riverside Stadium. Middlesbrough are seeking a sporting sanction and have indicated they will prepare for Sunday’s playoff final despite losing against Southampton.
That is why, despite the drama on the pitch at St Mary’s on Tuesday night, and there was plenty, it largely felt somewhat secondary — and it is hard to ascertain whether there were any winners, be it Southampton, Middlesbrough, the EFL, and maybe even the Premier League.
Tonda Eckert, the Southampton head coach, wanting to reflect on his team’s memorable night, was probed about the spying allegations — saying the club is taking them “very seriously” and conceding that they have “overshadowed” the match — up until the moment he was asked outright whether he is a cheat, bringing an abrupt end to his post-match press conference.
On the other hand but in the same seat, you had Kim Hellberg, the Middlesbrough head coach, who spoke passionately for close to 15 minutes after Tuesday’s fixture about the spying allegations and how they have impacted him and his team.
Kim Hellberg reacts at the final whistle on Tuesday night (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Hellberg, visibly emotional at times, praised Southampton’s players for their performances over two legs but stopped short of congratulating Eckert, making clear he has nothing to say to his counterpart.
“If we didn’t catch that man who they sent up, five hours to drive, you would sit here and say, ‘Well done’, maybe in the tactical aspects of the game, and I would go home and feel like I have failed in that aspect that I had to help my players,” Hellberg said after the match.
“But when that is taken away from you, when someone decides, ‘Nah, we’re not going to watch every game, we’ll send someone instead, we’ll film the session, and see everything, and hope they don’t get caught’, I guess that’s why they were switching clothes and all those things, it breaks my heart, in terms of all those things I believe in.”
The match itself had all the needle you would expect.
Southampton’s team arrived at St Mary’s amid a sea of red smoke from the flares lit by the thousands of fans who had lined the street to greet them.
The same supporters stuck around to welcome Middlesbrough, and the now-expired flares were being thrown at the coach as it parked up outside the stadium.
Middlesbrough’s team coach arrives at St Mary’s (Warren Little/Getty Images)
The game constantly felt on the edge, sometimes teetering over, from the first kick to the last.
During the first half, Middlesbrough defender Luke Ayling reportedly made a complaint to Andrew Madley, the match official, over alleged discriminatory abuse directed at him by the Southampton player Taylor Harwood-Bellis, which neither head coach wanted to comment on in the aftermath.
This incident also led to Eckert and Hellberg nearly coming to blows before being separated by the fourth official.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Luke Ayling clash at St Mary’s (Warren Little/Getty Images)
To add to the sense of chaos, a ballboy refused to give the ball to Middlesbrough’s Matt Targett — who began his career at Southampton — which led to another flare-up.
At every turn, it felt as though the game was about to descend into anarchy, and you were never quite sure when that would be or who it would involve.
Riley McGree put the visitors ahead on the night with an early goal before Ross Stewart equalised in first-half stoppage time.
After a frenzied opening 45 minutes, the second half and extra time largely passed without incident. The tie was sealed by Charles’ cross-shot with four minutes to go.
Welington and Ryan Manning celebrate the decisive goal (Warren Little/Getty Images)
His goal sparked wild celebrations inside St Mary’s, none more so than in the press box, where Southampton’s analysts, doing the opposite of keeping a low profile amid the allegations levelled at the club, were enthusiastically bouncing around.
For the EFL, you can make a very strong case that the easiest solution for almost everybody involved — excluding Southampton — would have been for Middlesbrough to win over two legs.
But that didn’t happen, and now the build-up to the play-off final on May 23, the most lucrative game in football, is going to be dominated by discussions over whether Southampton should be thrown out if they are found guilty of wrongdoing.
The EFL’s Independent Disciplinary Commission, the body now overseeing the charges, has a range of sanctions, both sporting and financial, at its disposal, including one that gives it ultimate discretion to impose any punishment they “see fit”.
So, although it seems unthinkable, maybe even implausible, there is a possibility Southampton could be removed from the play-offs ahead of the final.
A Southampton fan takes a light-hearted view of the spying scandal (Warren Little/Getty Images)
In that context, it is understandable why the EFL has asked the independent body to shorten the clubs’ response period and to set a hearing date as soon as possible.
And as for the Premier League, there is every chance that Southampton beat Hull, return to the top table in English football, and then the Premier League inherits a scenario where the EFL has issued a points deduction and they are being asked to impose it.
A tweak to the Premier League’s rules in light of Leicester City being deducted six points — despite being in the EFL — in February for breaching financial regulations, now means that if a promoted club “is the subject of an investigation by the EFL for alleged breaches of any aligned provisions within the EFL Regulations”, then “responsibility for that investigation will pass to the Board”.
Even though the tussle on the pitch between Southampton and Middlesbrough has come to an end, the conflict off it is only just beginning.