City fans now face a nervous wait over whether their money will be poured down the drain
Tonda Eckert’s Southampton are in the dock ahead of the final(Image: Robin Jones/Getty Images)
The irony of Southampton’s media staff telling journalists to ‘show some respect’ when questioning under-fire manager Tonda Eckert should not be lost. That in itself was classless.
Southampton are the ones who have brought the game into disrepute, and it’s they who are showing a complete lack of respect for the game and its supporters. It’s they who should be showing ‘respect’.
What should be a memorable, enjoyable build-up to the world’s biggest club game is now being overshadowed by Southampton’s spying on Middlesbrough before the first leg of their semi-final against Middlesbrough last weekend. Hull City are the forgotten part in all of this, trying to focus on the game they’ve rightfully earned their place in, while this whole storm blows around them.
Southampton have since been charged, and in the excruciating interviews done since, have made no effort to admit it, to apologise; instead, they’ve been flaky and shown contempt for the game.
Football’s authorities have been put in an impossible position over this in many ways, given the timing of it. There are so many vested interests that will want different outcomes, and all this is barely a week before the richest game in world football.
The South Coast club have brought this problem to the table. Had they not sent a member of Eckert’s backroom staff up to Teesside to film a training session from behind a tree before absconding through a golf club owned by Boro supremo Steve Gibson, then this situation would never have happened. We’d all be happily preparing for arguably the greatest occasion in domestic football.
If Eckert is proven to have been complicit in all of this, he should be sacked immediately and banned for at least 12 months. It’s blatant cheating, and should be treated seriously. While not anything like as serious as match-fixing, it’s still unsporting conduct, and should be treated as such, but the punishment should also be proportionate.
A significant fine for the club, coupled with waiving any split income from the final, should be enough to allow the game to go ahead as planned. Points deductions are very well and good, but should be retrospectively applied in the current season, and that’s probably unlikely given the can of worms that would be opened, with other teams seeking to get involved. The calls for them to be removed are understandable; however, suggestions that Middlesbrough should just be given a free pass into the final are also wrong. Over two legs in the semi-final, Boro were unable to beat Southampton on the pitch. They didn’t lose because some of their training sessions were filmed.
After an initial feeling of amusement about the whole sorry saga, those emotions have quickly turned to anger with the very real prospect that the game will be moved from Saturday, May 23. That date has been locked in the diary for months.
Yes, City fans only knew about their safe passage to the final on Monday night after an impressive win at Millwall, but that won’t have stopped thousands of fans in that time organising flights, booking hotels and spending hard-earned money to make sure they could get the best value for their trips, many of whom will be travelling from all corners of the world to see Jakirovic’s heroes at Wembley.
If the game is moved, fans stand to lose thousands of pounds. And no, it’s not OK to just divert to terms and conditions. Fans deserve better than this.
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Many will have booked non-refundable flights and hotels, booked time off work, and if it gets moved, they stand to lose a lot of money. Not everybody can just find it again, nor should they have to because of Southampton’s behaviour.
For a team travelling from the north, the 4:30pm kick-off time is already far from ideal. If, as expected, the game is moved to an evening, then that means thousands of fans will be unable to attend because of work or school commitments. So many of the next generation of football supporters will simply not be able to come. It just kills the moment and the legacy of this game.
What is that?
An absolute disgrace is what it is, and should not be accepted, nor should it be allowed.
Common sense must prevail, and the game must go ahead. Tickets are now on sale, which has eased some of the supporters’ anxiety, but this whole episode has been another terrible look for football.
Football for the fans has been FIFA’s strapline for a while, but they’ve proven it isn’t. During Covid, the authorities, players, managers and media personalities all spoke about how rubbish the game was without supporters. Since the pandemic, with games being moved to stupid times for television, fans being priced out of tickets, food, and merchandise, it feels like the game as we knew it is dying a slow and painful death, and it’s been allowed to happen right in front of our eyes by those paid millions to protect it.
Football is no longer for the fans, and if the play-off final gets moved from next Saturday to an evening, I think we can finally accept the game as we knew it has gone.
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