Southampton’s improved play since the middle of January earned the South Coast club and its head coach, Tonda Eckert, a lot of acclaim, but that has begun to fade in recent days as the spygate probe continues.

Indeed, the Saints have only lost once in all competitions since January 17th, in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City, when Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez’s late goals turned the game on its head after Finn Azaz put the Championship side ahead with a stunning curling effort.

Southampton made their second journey to Wembley Stadium in less than two years, defeating Leeds United in the play-off final in May 2024.

In terms of results on the pitch, Eckert’s side are on their way to the national stadium after defeating Middlesbrough over two legs in this season’s play-off semi-finals.

Saints held West Bromwich Albion to a goalless draw in the away leg before winning at St Mary’s, just as they did two years ago.

Riley McGree put Kim Hellberg’s side ahead in the first few minutes, but Ross Stewart equalised on the stroke of half-time. In the last minutes of extra time, Shea Charles saved the day with a cross-turned shot that curled past Sol Brynn.

Normally, reaching Wembley would spark big celebrations, but as previously stated, the continuing investigation into spygate has kept Saints supporters and their opponents, Hull City, in the dark.

Southampton make U-turn on Wembley tickets information ahead of the Hull City play-off final

After Hull overcame Millwall over two legs on Monday evening, the Tigers initially stated that ticket information would be issued on Wednesday, with official sales beginning later in the week.

Despite the current spygate situation, which has seen images surface of a purported Southampton intern analyst filming and photographing Middlesbrough training sessions at Rockliffe Park, the Saints issued an initial update via X with similar phrasing.

However, the Hampshire outfit exacerbated the matter by prematurely releasing ticketing information on their website and posting an update about it on their social media accounts.

The article described how Southampton supporters’ batches of tickets would be released based on the number of fixtures attended throughout the season, with the FA Cup semi-final against Pep Guardiola’s side being the first to go on sale at 9:30AM on Friday, May 15th.

However, these facts were quickly withdrawn from the website, reportedly because both Saints and Hull are scheduled to disclose ticketing information at the same time.

Unsurprisingly, with a kick-off time yet to be decided, there are more worries about whether Eckert’s squad will be booted from the play-offs, with an independent disciplinary commission due to investigate.

The Spygate incident affects Hull City, Southampton, and Middlesbrough.

Although not directly involved in the situation, spygate is undoubtedly having an influence on those who support Hull, as Sergej Jakirovic’s men returned to training on Thursday.

According to reports, the Tigers are set to face the Saints for the third time this season, having already beaten them twice at the MKM Stadium and St Mary’s.

Naturally, the primary frustration comes from supporters of either side, who must make travel plans at such short notice, which has been made incredibly difficult by the lack of a guaranteed kick-off time.

Meanwhile, it has already been established that the League One and League Two play-off finals will take place on Sunday, May 24th and Monday, May 25th at 3PM, respectively.