Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic reacts to Southampton Spygate punishment and preparations

Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic reacts to the Southampton Spygate punishment and turned focus on preparations for their playoff final.

Southampton failed in their appeal to overturn their expulsion. An independent commission have handed the Saints a four point deduction for the 2026/27 season, after the club admitted to three spying charges.

Hull owner Acun Ilicali said he could take further action as-he spoke on Southampton’s playoff expulsion. More on that HERE.

Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg also gave his thoughts on the situation, find out what he had to say HERE.

🗣️ SERGEJ SPEAKS

🎥 WATCH: @HullCity head coach Sergej Jakirovic react publicly for the first time about the decision to eject @SouthamptonFC from the Championship playoff final.

🎧 Full interview to come later on @BBCSounds – https://t.co/wb97IPn0Qe#hcafc | @RadioHumberside pic.twitter.com/AJYHSqhSTY

— BBC Humberside Sport (@HumbersideSport) May 21, 2026

Jakirovic said to BBC Humberside Sport: “I need to say that we prepared a game for the final, for Southampton at least the last seven days I can say like this. Why? Because they won and they get through the final. And after Tuesday, after this first decision, we automatically switched to Middlesbrough.

“But like I said, my first day here, we know all these teams, we faced them two times, so we know everything about them, they know everything about us and then it’s not so difficult to prepare this game.

“Of course, our full focus and concentration is on our team, what we can do, what we need to do and to have the best performance on Saturday.”

Interviewer: “Did you do anything on Middlesbrough when you knew it may be a possibility before the decision was announced?”

Jakirovic: “No, our focus was on Southampton. But I watched both games, Middlesbrough and Southampton. just that I know, of course, my main focus was on Southampton, but already if you watched, I watched both teams, so like I said, our focus is from Tuesday on Middlesbrough.”

Interviewer: “Is it unfair that you’ve been given just a couple of days to prepare for a new team ahead of such a big game?”

Jakirovic: “Well, we can say everything is unfair in these last two weeks. You don’t know what’s going on. Because if you now look from Middlesbrough’s of view, they knew it. If they will be successful in this appeal, they will play against us. So I can now turn around the whole situation. But I will not do that because we know everything now and we will try to beat them on the pitch.”

Interviewer: “Now that we know what they were charged with and what they were found guilty of and admitted to, was it the correct decision to kick Southampton out?”

Jakirovic: “I don’t know, it’s this question for me because I can have my opinion but it doesn’t really matter. So this is independent panel and they know what they did. I will stay like this because maybe in the past you have this example for Leeds and but you know, of Middlesbrough fans’ it’s a correct decision in Southampton fans’ eyes. It’s not.

“But like I said, we are here collateral damage. This is clear. Because we are waiting for opponent and you don’t know what’s going on, what’s happening. And now we have to prepare to be on a very high level on Saturday.”

Interviewer: “Does it make you more determined to win this, as if promotion is not enough of an incentive? Does it make you more determined to win this on merit and show that no distractions were an issue for you?”

Jakirovic: “Yes, of course. This is what we can do. It’s in our power, so we will try to win. Of course, will be demanding game, for me, final is 50-50, no matter who is your opponent. It will be difficult, of course, but of course we are in good shape, good form, and I hope that we can win this game.”

The magnificent Sergej Jakirovic on @SkySportsNews just now talks about Saturday’s massive game for @HullCity against @Boro what a season he has given us it is a fitting climax that we finish at a @wembleystadium final with the door to the @premierleague open for us #hcafc #UTT pic.twitter.com/VcEyrcnYpQ

— Peter Johnson (@Pjohnnners) May 21, 2026

In his press conference, he was asked on the events of “the last few days and on the outcome. Is there a little bit of relief that it’s all been concluded now and you know that Middlesbrough will be your opponents on Saturday?”

Jakirovic: “For sure it’s a relief because since Tuesday evening we know against who we are playing. Of course we prepared this game at least last seven days for Southampton because they won in the semi-finals.

“And then from Tuesday evening we started to prepare this game against Middlesbrough. Which is maybe a little bit short, but like I said, we faced already two times against Southampton, against Middlesbrough, so we know everything about them, they know everything about us. So we will see now Saturday.

“I’m optimistic because we had a few very good sessions. I can say like this, our main focus is all this when we reach the finals, it’s this final game. So no matter who will be our opponent, our focus and concentration is on our team, what we can do there, how we can use our advantages there.

“And then this is the main. Of course, since Tuesday, it’s Middlesbrough, so we had preparation like before every game this season.”

Question: “Do you think it is the correct decision to kick Southampton out?”

Jakirovic: “It’s not on me. It’s not on me. I can have my opinion but it doesn’t really matter because the independent panel brought this decision. My job is to prepare my team for the final and try to get to Premier League.

“Would it have been fairer to automatically promote Hull? I think this is the best idea. I think this is the best idea. So we are in the final, they kicked up Southampton, so the best scenario.

“But we will see what will happen in the end. This is not question for me, but if you ask me, it’s the best scenario for our club.”

Question: “How disruptive has this been in terms of your preparations? How difficult has it made it, not just for you, but for the players as well?”

Jakirovic: “Yeah, like I said, our full focus was on Southampton at least last seven days. So from Tuesday, of course, we have our full concentration on Middlesbrough and can be little bit.

“But again, we did one good session tactically and I hope tomorrow we will see, we will decide who will be first 11 and then I hope we will have a good… there have been so many distractions in the build up to this game.”

Question: “Is one of the big challenges for you now to really focus the minds of the players on the actual match itself?”

Jakirovic: “Like I said, players are fully focused and they have concentration in the final. So no matter who is opponent there. It’s not about who is better, Southampton or Middlesbrough. For me, the is 50-50 game, no matter who is the opponent. No matter who is opponent. the Championship, if you now need to pick one team, you will have 50-50 final because it’s pressure. It’s a big game and who will handle this pressure better that he will have advantage.”

Question: “And these big games are often decided by fine margins. Is that what you expect this weekend to be?”

Jakirovic: “What is fine margins? Like narrow, like tight games? Tight games, yes, of course. Tight games. One or two goals. We have to score at least one, which I’m pretty sure we will score.”

Question: “There’s a lot of doubt if this game will even go ahead. Are you happy that it is still going ahead this Saturday rather than being moved?”

Jakirovic: “Yes, I’m very happy because how you can control all these emotions, expectations. You can’t wait to start this game and then if they will postpone… That was my first question. Should they postpone the game because it’s not easy to… even this 12 days to the final it’s too long because we played two games in semi-finals in three days which is… they have to change this. They have to change this end of the season, too long season and then in three days you have to play two times two games. It’s exhausting and they have to change this fourth, fifth, sixth day. I don’t know. So there is plenty of time to change this.”

Question: “Have you wasted a week to 10 days preparing for a set-up?”

Jakirovic: “Two days we have normal celebration, normal as a team. Then we trained three times, we had three training sessions, then Sunday off. Then since Monday we started to prepare everything for the match.”

Question: “Have you had enough time, or do you think it’s enough time to prepare for what is the biggest game of the season? The richest game of football, the biggest prize to get to Premier League. Is there enough time?”

Jakirovic: “We will see on Saturday after the game. But I think I can now say no, it’s too short. So we’ll try to perform good there and to show our football like we did all this season. So we will see after this game.”

Question: “Did you find out same time as everyone else? Did you get prior warning on Tuesday night?”

Jakirovic: “Tuesday.”

Question: “The announcement of Southampton being kicked out, when did you find out?”

Jakirovic: “Yeah, they called me. They called me. We are playing against Middlesbrough. And of course it’s a appeal of Southampton, so we should wait Wednesday.”

Question: “So then is that another day off then?”

Jakirovic: “Yeah, but still we start to watch Middlesbrough.”

Question: “What would it mean to get this team to watch the Premier League?”

Jakirovic: “Everything. Everything because we reach here, we achieve in these circumstances with all these problems this whole season is unbelievable. So like I said maybe one more little step we have to do and we will try to do everything what is in our power to get there.”

Question: “And the year personally?”

Jakirovic: “The best what I did in my training, coach career.”