Southampton spying: Saints face EFL probe for spying at Middlesbrough

The English Football League (EFL) has launched an investigation into allegations of spying at Southampton Middlesbrough ahead of their Championship play-off meeting.

Their semi-final first leg takes place at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday, before returning to St Mary’s on Tuesday.

BBC Sport has learned that the Saints performance analyst was caught on Thursday morning allegedly recording Boro training and filming tactics.

Staff members were caught, asked to delete the footage and leave the area, but the Teesside club were furious and later contacted the EFL.

An EFL statement released on Thursday evening said: “The EFL have requested their monitoring of Southampton FC following allegations from Middlesbrough FC of unauthorized filming ahead of the two clubs’ meeting in the first leg of Saturday’s Championship play-off semi-final.

“The alleged incident is understood to have taken place on a private property in Middlesbrough by a man identified as having links to Southampton.