Spygate: Southampton's guilt, 'Boro's media briefings and the ultimate measurement for a brilliant PR campaign

In a football training ground in Hurworth-on-Tees, on 7 May, a young analyst intern at a football club stood behind a tree filming a team in training. The team he was watching was Middlesborough F.C (known to fans as "Boro"). The intern worked for rival club, Southampton F.C ("Saints"). 

Two days later, the teams were scheduled to play a game that would decide who went through to the playoffs – the game that decides which club is promoted to the Premier League the following season.

Boro’s media team spotted the intern, photographed and questioned him. He deleted content from his phone, ran into the nearby clubhouse where he changed his clothes and left. The result was an official complaint from Boro against Saints (spying less than 72 hours before a game, breaks the rules) and the English Football League charged the club with misconduct.

The game between the two clubs went ahead anyway. Saints fans – and one of their players – made light of the charges, making binocular gestures while their opponents booed.

Southampton, who had lost 4-0 to Middlesborough earlier in the season, drew the first game 0-0 and won the second game 2-1. They were in the playoffs, facing Hull in one of the most important games of their lives, on 23 May, and heavily tipped to win.

The PR playoffs

But Boro had different ideas, publicly demanding that the Saints should be expelled from the playoffs. This was unprecedented, and a far harsher punishment than the £200,000 fine inflicted on Leeds United in 2019 for a similar offence.

Boro moved quickly to take control of the narrative. They matched the photo of the spy to an intern on Saints’ website, and details of "Spygate", including the spy photo, were all over news and social media. Southampton had no choice but to to admit guilt, and under investigation admitted another two instances of spying (against Ipswich and Oxford United). Middlesbrough lobbied hard and publicly for the EFL to issue an expulsion over a fine.

Whatever side you take (and I grew up in a family of Saints fans), this was a brilliant PR campaign from Boro. It had a single objective: to get Saints banned from the playoffs. And it worked.

An independent disciplinary commission found Southampton guilty of breaking EFL rules, and handed them the most serious punishment in UK football history, expelling them from the playoffs, a decision that not only will cost them a possible place in the Premier League, but has a very clear financial penalty – the loss of up to £200 million in revenue.

The repercussions are wide and many are unresolved. Hull had been preparing to play Saints, and had to revise their strategy just days before the big game (they were also preparing a lawsuit against the EFL if they lost to Boro). Boro fans scrambled to buy tickets to the playoff and furious Saints fans tried to get their refunded from the club. Fans are also angrily reporting that they are out of pocket for trains and hotel costs, so don’t be surprised if we see a lawsuit against the club from the Fan Advisory Board. Southampton players are rumoured to be considering a lawsuit against their club for loss of earnings. And it maybe the end of the line for manager Tonder Eckhert who faces charges of bringing the game into disrepute.

Ultimately, however brilliant the Boro's PR, it couldn't change the players’ performance on the day. This weekend, Middlesbrough lost to 0-1 to Hull City, who will be promoted to the Premiership next season.