Dale Johnson

I think they're just concerned with the impact on things like offside, if a defender's down injured.

Obviously, you could say if a defender's getting treatment, they don't count for offside.

But they're just worried about the impact on the game in terms of where the game might be being played and things like offside.

Yeah, well, obviously we'd had these rumours that there was more than one accusation from other clubs, but until the hearing result came out late on Tuesday evening, none of us knew who that would be or how many it was.

And I think this was...

while it was important I don't think it was central to them being thrown out of the playoffs and I think you break this down into two separate parts of the sanction you've got the league season defences which were against Oxford and against Ipswich and let's not forget the Ipswich game was the penultimate game of the season when Southampton still had a chance of finishing second so you get the four points deducted for next season based on that

And then you get the playoffs period, which is a separate competition entirely.

And I guess you think of that in terms of, say, a cup game when someone's fielded an ineligible player.

When that happens, you lose the match and your opponent goes forward.

And I think you've basically got two different sanctions there.

And I think it's just an incredible situation.

I think you've talked about it quite well just there.

The fact that this has clearly been a systemic situation

process of spying on opponents I don't think there is any way that Southampton could have been allowed to take part in the playoff final and earn promotion to the Premier League based on what they have done over the recent months Every single minute

It is, and the question is, who knew what, who knew to what extent, and how far up the chain it goes.

I mean, the next step, of course, is going to have to be, I think, some form of Football Association inquiry and investigation into it, because while the EFL are able to take action against Southampton as a club, they can't take action against any individuals that were involved, so...

We will get the written reasons.

The AFL say they want to get them out on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning at the latest.

And that's when we'll get the real meat, the real detail of exactly what the evidence was, what was presented, what everybody knew.

And I think once that has been delivered, the FA will then move on to charge the club and individuals based on the actions they've made.