{"id":955,"date":"2026-05-20T16:08:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=955"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:08:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:08:05","slug":"southampton-says-playoff-expulsion-for-spying-manifestly-disproportionate-ahead-of-appeal-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=955","title":{"rendered":"Southampton says playoff expulsion for spying ‘manifestly disproportionate’ ahead of appeal hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE – Southampton\u2019s coach Tonda Eckert reacts during the FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Manchester City and Southampton in Manchester, England, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung, File( (Kin Cheung\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Southampton heads into its appeal against expulsion from the Championship playoff final<\/a> believing its punishment is \u201cmanifestly disproportionate\u201d to any previous sanction in English soccer history.<\/p>

Read more Hearts express concerns about \u2018premature ending\u2019 to title decider against Celtic<\/a><\/p>\n

The south-coast team admitted to repeatedly spying on opponents<\/a> this season \u2014 including Middlesbrough ahead of the playoff semifinals \u2014 and was removed from this Saturday\u2019s match against Hull when a place in the Premier League was up for grabs.<\/p>\n

Instead, the English Football League handed Middlesbrough a place in the final at Wembley Stadium, which is regarded as the world\u2019s richest one-off soccer match because a windfall of at least $270 million in future earnings in the Premier League is on offer for the winning team.<\/p>\n

In a long club statement, Southampton chief executive Phil Parsons accepted \u201cwhat happened was wrong\u201d and that the club deserved to be sanctioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we cannot accept,\u201d Parsons said, \u201cis a sanction which bears no proportion to the offence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commission was entitled to impose a sanction,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was not, we will argue, entitled to impose one that is manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Game 1s in the NBA\u2019s conference finals were beyond belief<\/a><\/p>\n

Parsons pointed to Leeds<\/a> getting fined 200,000 pounds (then $259,000) in 2019 for spying on one of Derby\u2019s training sessions ahead of a Championship game that season. After that, the EFL brought in rules in a bid to prevent a repeat, requiring clubs to act with the \u201cutmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another club\u2019s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas Leeds United was fined \u00a3200,000 for a similar offence, Southampton has been denied the opportunity to compete in a game worth more than \u00a3200 million and one which means so much to our staff, players and supporters,\u201d Parsons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the financial consequence of yesterday\u2019s ruling makes it, by a very considerable distance, the largest penalty ever imposed on an English football club.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EFL said Southampton had subsequently admitted to further breaches this season concerning games against Oxford and Ipswich. The club was also deducted four points for next season.<\/p>\n

An arbitration panel will hear Southampton\u2019s appeal later on Wednesday. An outcome is likely late in the day or on Thursday.<\/p>

Read more Trump is at his weakest nationally yet flexing power with his base<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southampton heads into its appeal against expulsion from the Championship playoff final believing its punishment is \u201cmanifestly disproportionate\u201d to any previous sanction in English soccer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSouthampton says playoff expulsion for spying 'manifestly disproportionate' ahead of appeal hearing - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Southampton says playoff expulsion for spying 'manifestly disproportionate' ahead of appeal hearing - 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