Middlesbrough: Kim Helberg says ‘disgraceful’ ‘Spygate’ story ‘broke my heart’ after Southampton beat Boro | football news

Kim Helberg says the ‘spygate’ saga which overshadowed his Middlesbrough side’s Championship play-off semi-final defeat to Southampton is “disgraceful” and “breaks my heart”.

A member of the Southampton staff was allegedly caught observing a Middlesbrough training session last Thursday.

After a goalless draw in the first leg on Saturday, Shea Charles’ 116th-minute winner gave Saints a 2-1 win and a place in the play-off final at Wembley on Saturday 23 May.

“I have worked as a coach for 15 years, trying to get to the Premier League. This has been my dream for 15 years,” he said in the post-match press conference.

“I know there are clubs with bigger resources or parachute payments who can spend more money. There are teams who have bigger squads than us, there are teams who have more money to spend.

“What you have as a coach and as a team is the tactical element of the game where we can beat the opposition and I think that’s what everyone likes about the game. So I look at England and think this is the home of football, where I want to be, what I dream of. You are very proud of your football and I think that’s where I want to be.

“When you have more money and all these things, you try to find a way to get an advantage, I try to go with my team. That’s what you always try to do, because we can be better in that element.

“Alex Neil (Millwall) said a very good thing after the game. He said ‘I think I let people down because we didn’t win’. In that way, he said he let people down. It often goes home with the feeling of a coach because you think, what I can control is the tactical side of the game or helping my players more.

“When you’ve done that and for a week or two leading up to this game, take every second away from your family to watch every Southampton game to try to get the advantage that we can actually get, if we didn’t get the guy that they sent a five-hour drive, you sit there and say, well done, maybe, I failed to play in the tactical aspect of the game and I think I failed to play.

“When it’s taken away from you like that, when someone decides: ‘No, we’re not going to watch every game. We’ll send someone instead and film the session and watch everything and hope we don’t get caught’. I guess that’s why they were changing clothes and all that stuff.

“It breaks my heart in terms of all the things I believe in. That’s the thing.

“I don’t care if different countries have different rules. This is England where football is the biggest thing.

“That’s my feeling about it. I think it’s insulting. It makes me very sad.”

Asked if he believed Tonda Eckert knew about the alleged ‘espionage,’ Helberg said, “I can’t answer that. No comment.”

Eckert walks out again

Meanwhile, Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert walked out of Saturday’s post-match press conference after being pressed by ‘Spygate’.

And he walked out again on Tuesday night when the second question of the press conference was: “Are you a cheater?”

The press officer accompanying him quickly shut it down and told the journalist to “show some respect”.

What happens next?

A disciplinary hearing before the final has been recommended by the EFL due to the “nature of the matter” and something could happen despite Tuesday night’s result.

Southampton’s chief executive’s statement on Tuesday asked for time to carry out an internal review, but the decision on the hearing will be made by the Independent Disciplinary Commission.

Although ‘spying’ has previously occurred in 2019, there were no clear rules against it at the time and Leeds were penalized under the ‘good faith’ Act. That law still exists and there are now 127 rules that prohibit spying within 72 hours of a game.

In this sense this is the first time that the Act has been truly tested, and every form of punishment is at the disposal of the Independent Disciplinary Commission.

It’s fair to say Boro believe Southampton clearly “cheated” and the club want the toughest punishment available – and a sporting one at that. Boro’s view is that fines will serve little purpose.

Southampton have asked the EFL for more time to carry out an internal review

Ahead of Tuesday’s game, Southampton were asked to allow time for an internal review into the circumstances surrounding the ‘Spygate’ scandal.

The club was charged by the EFL on Friday, who asked an independent disciplinary commission to shorten the response period from the usual 14 days and schedule a hearing at the “maximum opportunity”.

Southampton chief executive Phil Parsons told the club’s official website: “The club is co-operating fully with the EFL and the Disciplinary Commission, with an internal review being carried out to ensure all information and context is correctly understood.

“Given the intensity of the fixture schedule and the short turnaround between matches, we have requested time to complete that process thoroughly and responsibly.

“We understand the discussion and speculation that has followed in recent days, but we also believe it is important to establish the full context before drawing conclusions.”