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Southampton are appealing against their expulsion from the Championship play-off final believing their punishment is “manifestly disproportionate” to any previous sanction in the history of English football.
The south coast side admitted to repeatedly spying on their opponents this season, including Middlesbrough before the playoff semi-finals, and were dropped from this Saturday’s game against Hull with a Premier League place at stake.
Instead, the English Football League gave Middlesbrough a place in the final at Wembley Stadium, which is considered the richest single football match in the world because the winning team is offered a windfall of at least $270 million in future Premier League earnings.
In a lengthy statement from the club, Southampton chief executive Phil Parsons accepted that “what happened was wrong” and that the club deserved to be sanctioned.
“What we cannot accept,” Parsons said, “is a penalty that is out of proportion to the violation.”
“The commission had the right to impose a sanction,” he added. “We will say that he had no right to impose one that is manifestly disproportionate to all previous sanctions in the history of English football.”
Parsons noted that Leeds was fined 200,000 pounds (then $259,000) in 2019 for spying on one of Derby’s training sessions before a championship match that season. After that, the EFL introduced rules in a bid to prevent a repeat, requiring clubs to act with “utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match”.
“While Leeds United were fined £200,000 for a similar offence, Southampton have been denied the opportunity to compete in a match worth over £200 million and which means a lot to our staff, players and fans,” Parsons said.
“We believe that the financial consequences of yesterday’s ruling make it by far the largest sanction ever imposed on an English football club.”
The EFL said Southampton subsequently admitted to further infringements this season in relation to matches against Oxford and Ipswich. The club was also deducted four points for next season.
An arbitration panel will hear Southampton’s appeal later on Wednesday. The result is likely to be known later in the day or on Thursday.
Information from The Associated Press.
