In just one week, “Saints” has developed into an extremely humorous moniker.
Southampton has pushed, bent, and possibly even breached the rules to an unparalleled degree in their merciless quest for Premier League football.
Even Diego Simeone would cringe at how far they’ve carried football’s dark arts.
Rival supporters have been more vocal in denouncing the actions of Tonda Eckert’s Championship villains—we’ll refer to this as skullduggery.
In a hotly contested play-off semi-final against Middlesbrough, Saints didn’t exactly clean up their act in the wake of the “spygate” controversy; on the contrary, they doubled down—even the ball boys were involved.
Here’s a look at their most recent rap sheet and how the Wembley-bound team rose to the top of the public enemy rankings.
Following several contentious incidents during the previous week, Southampton celebrated their victory over Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
Doesn’t that seem like a half-baked Dan Brown book?
Last week, Daily Mail Sport broke the news that a junior intern had been discovered attempting to eavesdrop on a Middlesbrough training session prior to the first leg.
The individual, who was in his early twenties, was discovered in the bushes at the training facility at Rockliffe Park in Boro.
After being confronted by club employees, he allegedly erased photos and videos from his cell phone, refused to reveal his identity, and left the area. He then entered the nearby Rockliffe Hall Hotel, which is owned by Boro chairman Steve Gibson, changed into new clothes in the lavatory and left.
The disastrous mission elicited a response that included incredulity, indignation, and amusement. It was more Johnny English than James Bond.
Naturally, Middlesbrough failed to see the silver lining, and manager Kim Hellberg was on the edge of tears last night as he considered the sad story following his team’s 2-1 loss.
I spent fifteen years working as a coach in an attempt to join the Premier League. “That has been my dream for fifteen years,” he bemoaned.
Fans mocked the controversy and made references to “spygate” in their attire at St. Mary’s.
Many Southampton fans brought binoculars to the game, including this one.
“Well done, maybe, in the tactical aspect of the game, and I would go home feeling like I had failed in that aspect I had to help my players with if we hadn’t caught that man they sent up on a five-hour drive.”
When someone says, “No, we’re not going to watch every game,” and something is taken away from you. Instead, we’ll send someone to record the session, watch everything, and hopefully avoid being discovered. I suppose that’s why they were changing clothes and doing all that. It hurts me because of everything I hold dear. That’s the problem. That’s how I feel about it. It’s shameful, in my opinion. It really saddens me.
Potential penalties for Southampton might range from a fine to complete elimination from the play-offs; they have been charged and are the subject of an inquiry. The accusations have not been officially refuted by them.
When asked explicitly if he was a cheat, Eckert clumsily left his own post-match press conference.
There were other instances of Saints’ dubious actions, but “Spygate” was the controversy that tarnished the entire match.
Legendary Southampton player Matt Le Tissier had his “let’s be having you” moment with Delia Smith at halftime on Tuesday.
“If this play-off semi final could not get any weirder, Matt Le Tissier has just come on at halftime and accused the referee of making himself “the star of the show” and urged the Southampton fans to direct “positive energy to the players instead of negative energy elsewhere,” as our reporter James Sharpe wrote.
Le Tissier, who is now more well-known for his obsession with conspiracy theories—he recently got into an early-morning argument with Grok over “plane trails”—has become a mocking character since Sky Sports fired him.
He is still well-liked by many at St. Mary’s despite his many unusual opinions about the war in Ukraine, COVID, Bill Gates, and 9/11. He put himself forward to win over the supporters.
It must have worked when he called for “positive energy.”
However, it’s possible that Andrew Madley was unaware of the irony of being accused of wanting to be the center of attention while he was commanding a microphone in front of 30,277 fans.
At halftime, Matt Le Tissier told the crowd that the referee wanted to be “the star.”
With ten minutes remaining, Matt Targett encountered another flashpoint when a ball boy towered over him and denied him a ball.
That may sound dramatic, but this young player was taller than the Middlesbrough defender, and the visitors were enraged when he refused to give up control.
The commentators on Sky Sports were disbelieving.
“He’s asking for the ball, but the ball boy isn’t giving it to him,” they stated. That is absurd; he has no right. Is it just me, or are the ball boys growing taller? He wants that ball, and then Aidan Morris gets involved. It’s just pointless.”
More drama at St. Mary’s! 😬⚔️ pic.twitter.com/H2zLu3FIn7
Compared to Targett’s courteous request, Morris adopted more of an Eden Hazard strategy from all those years ago against Swansea.
And other Southampton replacements confronted him after he tore the ball away.
It was also the kind of gamesmanship that didn’t work for Saints when they were trying to win because the score was 1-1 at the time, and it just made Middlesbrough’s situation worse.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Roy Keane’s future son-in-law, was accused of using “discriminatory” language at Luke Ayling in one of the more repugnant incidences.
When Ayling reacted to what the centre-back had said to him, he was incredulous on the field, and their argument spilt onto the touchline.
The Athletic claims that Harwood-Bellis brought up Ayling’s speech impairment, which sparked the enraged response.
According to UK law, Ayling’s 34-year-old stammer qualifies as a disability under the 2010 Equality Act. Saints have not responded to the charge.
After outlining what he had been told, the referee was forced to physically separate Hellberg and Eckert.
Luke Ayling (right) was allegedly the target of discriminatory remarks made by Taylor Harwood-Bellis (left).
Adi Viveash, a Middlesbrough assistant, had to be restrained by the fourth official, and the animosity between the two teams that had been escalating during the match nearly got out of hand.
After reviewing Madley’s report, the FA will choose whether to launch an investigation into Harwood-Bellis’ actions.
After proposing to Keane’s daughter Leah two years ago, Harwood-Bellis, 24, is scheduled to wed her this summer.
