- Southampton Football Club has been expelled from the Sky Bet Championship play-off final after admitting to spying on rival team Middlesbrough before their semi-final first leg, alongside multiple breaches of EFL regulations.
- The club's removal from Saturday's Wembley final against Hull City means that beaten semi-finalists Middlesbrough will now take their place.
- Southampton's chief executive, Phil Parsons, issued an apology for the club's actions but vehemently criticised the severity of the sanction , labelling it "manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game."
- Club legend Matthew Le Tissier, who works in an advisory capacity for Southampton, expressed his shock, comparing the punishment to a "murder trial for stealing a chocolate bar" despite acknowledging the club's wrongdoing.
- Former England internationals Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer also voiced surprise at the decision, suggesting that a significant fine would have been a more appropriate penalty for the rule-breaking incident.
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