Southampton’s Tonda Eckert walks out when asked if he’s a cheat; and Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg holds back tears, ‘disgusted’ by Spygate.
Both had been talking to the media following the Championship play-off semi-final second leg with the Saints coming out on top, a 2-1 victory, Shea Charles with a strike in extra time to send Southampton to the playoff final, facing Hull City on the 23rd of May.
In his press conference, Kim Hellberg said the ‘Spygate’ saga overshadowed his Boro’s defeat, with it alleged a member of Southampton staff was caught trying to watch a Middlesbrough training session last Thursday.
Saints manager Tonda Eckert’s came to an abrupt ended when constantly being asked about Spygate and the club facing an EFL misconduct charge.
Journalist Dominic Shaw of the Northern Echo asked Eckert “are you a cheat?” to which a fed up Eckert got up, and left the room, a Southampton press officer told the journalist to have a bit of respect.
I didn’t call him a cheat, I asked him whether he is one. That’s what he’s being accused of
— Dominic Shaw (@DomShawEcho) May 13, 2026
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Hellberg said, per Teesside Live: “We will see what happens. First thing is that I want to congratulate the Southampton players. They’ve done brilliantly.
“To their supporters, they haven’t been a part of this. They need to be congratulated and happy for their team. I want to say that to them. I think they deserve it. They fought very well.
“Then, of course, for me in a role as a coach, because that’s the thing I can talk about from my perspective. I worked 15 years as a coach to try to get to the Premier League. That’s my dream. That’s been my dream for 15 years.
“When I take the Middlesbrough job, I know that there are clubs with bigger resources or parachute payments, that means more money to spend. There are teams, to be fair, that had bigger squads than us. Teams that have more money to spend.
“What you have as a coach and what you have as a group is the tactical element of the game – where we can beat the opponent. And that’s what I think everyone loves about the game.
“When you battle with teams who have more money and a bigger squad, you try to find a way of doing the tactical element to get the advantage. That’s what you always try to do because we can be better in that element.
“When that is taken away from you, I think it’s no longer fair. It has nothing to do with what they see or what they saw, how they affected the game, or if it was free kicks they saw, or goal kicks they saw, whatever they saw.
“This is our football and I think you should fight quite hard for it. I think Alex Neil said a very good thing after the Millwall game. He said, ‘I think I let people down after the game when we haven’t won.’
“That’s often the feeling a coach goes home with, because you think that what I could control was the tactical aspect of the game. What I could control was helping my players more.
“And when you have done that and, and for a week or two weeks up to this game, put every second away from your family to watch Southampton every game, so you can try to gain that advantage that we can actually get.
“When you go home to your family and say, ‘No, I’m not coming home, I’m gonna see more games of them.’
“If we wouldn’t have caught that man who they sent up five hours, you would sit there and say, ‘well done in the tactical aspect of the game.’ And I would go home and feel like I have failed in that aspect that I had to help my players with.
“When that is taken away from you in that way, when someone decides, ‘No, we’re not gonna watch every game, we will send someone instead’ and they film the session and see everything and hope they don’t get caught.
“I guess that was why he had the switch of clothes and all those things that I have seen on the CCTV, which I can say, because I know it happened. It breaks my heart in terms of all those things I believed in.
“I don’t care if there’s different rules in other countries. This is England. I think this is where football is the biggest thing. That’s my feelings about it. I think that is disgraceful to a colleague who you work against. It makes me very sad.”
He added that he had “nothing to say to him” in regards to whether he’s spoke to Eckert.
On the game, losing late on, he said: “There were small margins today. We had to fight through extra time. We had some transition possibilities but didn’t do that good enough. It comes down to very small margins.”
“We had a plan if we were going to win the game… I’m not going to make any suggestions, we will see what happens.”
Kim Hellberg remains tight-lipped about Southampton possibly being removed from the play-offs. pic.twitter.com/7Y4dbUxtIg
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 12, 2026
Tonda Eckert was asked if he knew what the potential punishment could be awarded after the independent disciplinary commission’s investigation, he said, per Daily Echo: “No, I don’t know.
“It’s not easy for me to not comment, there’s just nothing I can say at the moment, because it’s an ongoing investigation.
“I think it’s not on me to have an opinion on that. Again, it’s an ongoing investigation, and the club has made a statement.
“I know I don’t like having to repeat myself, but I just ask you to respect that because that really is the only thing I can say at the moment.
“We do understand the seriousness of the matter. I think that’s all there is to say at the moment. I will say something. I just can’t say it now.”
Daily Echo state Eckert had been prompted by the Saints communications director, to which he walked out of the press conference after being asked directly whether he was “a cheat”.
Southampton’s Tonda Eckert walked away from his press conference early after being asked if he is a ‘cheat’ following the Saints’ ‘spygate’ saga that surrounds their play-off clash with Middlesbrough. pic.twitter.com/qsc8rjnZ3n
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 13, 2026
“The game was a big advert for the quality of the Championship.”
“Kim Hellberg’s accused you of cheating!”
“It’s not for me to comment.”Tonda Eckert bats away questions around the possibility of Southampton being removed from the play-offs 👀 pic.twitter.com/7g8UrgLFOj
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 12, 2026
Twitter users reacted after Eckert walks out when asked if he’s a cheat and Hellberg holds back tears, left ‘disgusted’ by Spygate…
@Jordwalker19: ‘Show some respect’ oh the irony ey, good on you dom
@Jasonwearmouth: Kick them out the play off final and let boro play. If cheating is proven a fine does nothing when you get 200 mil for going up anyway, points deduction will mean no point going up as you will never stay up with a points deduction so removing them from the final is the best option
@TableFootball: It’s ironic that they’re demanding respect after everything they’ve done before these games and during last night, especially. I hope this was pointed out to them.
@andycarr92: Some boy Hellberg like ❤️
@SmoggyBalboa: That is heartbreaking, not seen a manager care so much not just about the club, but about the integrity of the game in general before.. We’re incredibly lucky to have him at Boro.
@SteHatfield: We feel you Kim ❤️ #Boro
@dan_dixon87: Whatever happens we are in good hands with this man. Worked his way up from the bottom, clearly puts everything into the job and the club. He deserves backing properly. ❤️ 🇸🇪
@NUTSY10: Given the situation he spoke so well and articulated the point brilliantly.
@danny87reeves: Absolutely love this man, he has made us such a better team .. tonight does sting though, especially with the whole spy gate bollocks – main questions should be asked about January, absolute shambles – hopefully recruitment get it right in the summer and we go again! 🫡 UTB!
@EdwardsTracey84: Love how he says congratulations to the players of Southampton and the fans no one else haha
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