{"id":946557,"date":"2026-05-08T17:48:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946557\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T17:48:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T17:48:28","slug":"middlesbrough-fury-at-spying-row-as-venomous-welcome-awaits-southampton-middlesbrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/946557\/","title":{"rendered":"Middlesbrough fury at \u2018spying\u2019 row as \u2018venomous\u2019 welcome awaits Southampton | Middlesbrough"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middlesbrough remain furious with Southampton after catching a man they believe is a member of Tonda Eckert\u2019s backroom staff allegedly spying on a vital training session<\/a> ahead of Saturday\u2019s Championship playoff semi-final first leg at the Riverside Stadium.<\/p>\n

Boro have reported the incident to the English Football League, as spying on opposition training is in breach of its regulations. The EFL is investigating the alleged misconduct and, as of Friday, was still waiting for an explanation of what happened from Southampton<\/a>. Boro want the disciplinary process to be expedited but, as things stand, expect Saturday\u2019s game to proceed as planned.<\/p>\n

If the EFL charges Southampton with misconduct it is understood that Steve Gibson, Boro\u2019s owner, will expect the south-coast club to receive a severe sanction. Under a rule introduced in 2019 to deal specifically with spying, such cases are dealt with by an independent disciplinary panel, which has the power to impose punishments ranging from reprimands to fines, points deductions and, in extreme cases, expulsion from the competition.<\/p>\n

Southampton have 14 days to respond to allegations that one of their employees was caught filming Kim Hellberg, Boro\u2019s manager, taking training at the club\u2019s Rockliffe Park base near Darlington after being spotted hiding in bushes. It is understood Middlesbrough<\/a> possess CCTV footage of an incident that concluded with the man they allege is a Southampton first-team analyst entering a toilet at the adjacent Rockliffe Hall hotel and re-emerging with a changed appearance.<\/p>\n

EFL regulations state that the 14-day timeframe can be \u201cabridged\u201d in exceptional circumstances but, with St Mary\u2019s due to host the second leg on Tuesday night, accelerating the disciplinary process presents a tricky logistical challenge. Moreover, should the EFL charge Southampton and an independent disciplinary panel find them guilty, subsequent sanctions could be informed by two wildly differing precedents involving the former Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa and the former Canada women\u2019s coach Bev Priestman.<\/p>\n

In 2019 Leeds were fined \u00a3200,000 and reprimanded<\/a> after a member of Bielsa\u2019s staff was spotted watching Derby train before a Championship match against Frank Lampard\u2019s then side. At that time, the EFL had no specific anti-spying rule but found Leeds had breached regulation 3.4 that states clubs must act \u201cwith utmost good faith\u201d towards each other. After \u201cBielsa-gate\u201d it introduced the new rule stating: \u201cNo club shall directly or indirectly oversee [or attempt to observe] another club\u2019s training stadium in the period of 72 hours prior to any match scheduled to be played between those respective clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024 Priestman and two other Canada women officials were banned from football for a year<\/a> by Fifa after being found guilty of using drones to spy on opponents at the Paris Olympics. Canada, gold medallists at the previous Olympics in Tokyo, were also docked six Olympic group stage points. Priestman, previously England Women assistant manager during Phil Neville\u2019s tenure with the national team and widely acknowledged as among the most talented coaches in the women\u2019s game, was subsequently sacked by Canada and now works in New Zealand managing Wellington Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Southampton have enjoyed an impressive improvement since Eckert, a 33-year-old former Germany men\u2019s analyst, took charge last November. They are unbeaten in their past 19 Championship<\/a> games and beat Arsenal to reach the FA Cup semi-finals. Were any misconduct charges upheld against the club it would arguably become impossible for any of their recent results to be regarded as fair.<\/p>\n

Although Boro officials forced the alleged spy, thought to be in his early 20s, to delete the mobile phone footage he had filmed, the club remain concerned he had the chance to watch Hellberg\u2019s dead-ball routines. Also, Saturday\u2019s gameplan will be influenced by the availability or otherwise of Hayden Hackney. The Championship\u2019s outstanding midfielder has recently recovered from a calf injury, but Hellberg has kept his chances of involvement against Southampton a closely guarded secret.<\/p>\n

Boro had asked fans to line the approach roads to the Riverside Stadium and welcome their team bus with applause and flag-waving before kick off on Saturdaytoday. Southampton\u2019s coach will make the same journey and can expect a rather more hostile reception on a day with the potential, in the words of one insider, to turn \u201cvenomous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Southampton have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Middlesbrough remain furious with Southampton after catching a man they believe is a member of Tonda Eckert\u2019s backroom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-946557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116540218395660429","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}