Andrew Baiden @AndrewBaiden13 - Twitter Profile

Southampton’s alleged 007 goes way beyond what #LUFC were doing 7 years ago. The accused spy’s professional shotgun microphone and live-streaming equipment - all show a level of sophistication designed to gather a maximum possible amount of information related in real time back to the club. The presumed spy’s attempt to change clothes to avoid detection, shows an awareness of how wrong they knew their actions to be; and how much they valued that information and their anonymity. Tactical tweaks at half time can have a huge impact on a game - once managers have seen how the opposition are playing they can tweak their own team’s tactics to combat their opponents. We have seen the same this season with mid-game tactical timeouts - where goalkeepers feign injury so managers can adjust to changes in tactics and formation of opponents. And the effects of those adjustments can be hugely influential on the outcome of a match. But what if you knew what your opponent was going to do before a ball has been kicked? Many managers have sprung a surprise on opponents by setting up in a different way to how they have previously. Spying removes that element of surprise, certainly spying at the level being asserted here. Managers give specific roles to players and specific instructions to combat opponents’ strengths. Spying with high quality microphones lets the opponents know exactly what those instructions are. Marcelo Bielsa’s spy had a notebook and pen, this is on a completely different level. Bielsa spoke of how little the observation of training provided him in terms of information, but Leeds’ spy wasn’t recording vocal instructions by the opponent’s manager. Bielsa’s #LUFC side were fined £200,000 for spying on opponents in a regular season match. But Southampton have been accused of spying ahead of a Championship play-off semi-final. Getting into the Premier League is worth £170m+, a £200k fine would be the proverbial drop in the ocean of all of that promotion cash. A thorough investigation needs time, time which Middlesbrough do not have. I can understand the calls for Southampton to be expelled from the play-offs - which I assume would come via a hefty points deduction. What other punishment could be imposed that would be a deterrent, when a fine is so inconsequential, compared to the riches of the Premier League? We’ve seen in recent years many teams profit from bending or breaking the rules on spending. Club’s that overspent got promoted to the Premier League or stayed in the top-tier; while club’s who played by the rules got relegated, or didn’t get promoted in the first place. Football at the elite level is a game of the finest of margins. Any extra bit of information can be valuable - just one moment in a match can be the difference that gives one club over £170m and the other club nothing. So you can absolutely understand how Middlesbrough could feel hard-done by; and that when they step onto the grass later today it won’t be on a level playing field. But I would be very surprised if the consequences for Southampton, at the end of this investigation, will dissuade anyone else from trying to get an edge this way.. Because time and again throughout the last decades in football, breaking the rules has been beneficial to clubs. Whether that be 115 charges Manchester City, the irregularities in financial reporting of Chelsea’s secret payments, or Everton, Forest and Leicester’s breaches of PSR, and others. In those cases the punishment hasn’t come, or came too late to make a material difference to the teams close to them in the league, or were so immaterial as to be totally inconsequential. So what does the EFL do if they find truth in Middlesbrough’s accusations?

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