Southampton were kicked out of the Sky Bet Championship play-offs by an independent commission after admitting to a trio of spying offences
Simon Jordan has spoke
Simon Jordan has hit out at the punishment Southampton received from the EFL for spying but believes they are wasting their time with the appeal.
The Saints were kicked out of the play-offs by an independent commission after admitting to a trio of spying offences, including against play-off semi-final opponents Middlesbrough earlier this month.
The independent commission has reinstated Boro, who will now face Hull in Saturday’s play-off final, pending the outcome of Southampton’s appeal.
But when asked about the punishment, Jordan told talkSPORT: “I think it is a very strange decision, and you have gone some way from Leeds being sanctioned in 2019 with £200,000 to expulsion from a game worth £250m; that is some way to leap.
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“There has always been good faith rules inside the EFL, so the fact they have adjusted the rules to specifically cater for this sort of circumstance in terms of what Leeds did in 2019, but then move the dial to go from a circumstance that fined somebody £200.00 to somebody being booted out of a play-off final that could be worth £250m.
“The EFL, if you talk to Trevor (Birch) or Rick (Parry), they would probably say, ‘Listen, independent commissions, they make the decisions.’ You must have argued some case, and the EFL must have put it on the table: expulsion.
“When Southampton are getting very upset about it, which they should do because, in my view, it is disproportionate, their own stupidity is something they should be sanctioned for.
“The fact that there are two different methodologies here, the play-offs are a knockout tournament and the league games are something different, so the rules and dynamics had to be looked at differently.
“Do I think it is disproportionate? Of course I do. I am surprised they have done it. I am surprised they have done it.”
Southampton have already appealed the punishment, as their chief executive Phil Parsons has called the punishment “manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game.”
But on the appeal, Jordan believes: “As far as the appeal is concerned, given the fact I could see no landscape and see the bar was too high for them to get over to expel it, it almost makes me feel adverse to the decision in the appeal.
“But most of the time, appeals are successful when you introduce new evidence. There is now new evidence to introduce.
“The only new evidence to introduce into the equation is that your sanction is disproportionate. That is not new evidence.”
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