Millwall and Wrexham Weigh Legal Action After Southampton Expelled From Playoff Final

Millwall and Wrexham are considering legal action after the English Football League’s disciplinary panel expelled Southampton from Saturday’s Championship playoff final and replaced the club with beaten semi-finalist Middlesbrough, a decision upheld by an appeal panel Wednesday night.

The aggrieved clubs await the publication of the written reasons for the decisions but believe they could have grounds to seek compensation, according to sources familiar with their thinking.

Millwall and Wrexham may challenge whether the EFL rulebook was correctly applied or whether the disciplinary process was flawed, and could argue that Southampton’s spying on Middlesbrough, Oxford United and Ipswich Town occurred before the playoffs, meaning those matches should have been replayed without Southampton’s involvement.

Millwall finished third in the regular season and lost to Hull City in the playoff semi-finals, while Wrexham missed the playoffs after finishing seventh.

Legal observers have speculated that one party might seek a high court injunction to force the EFL to postpone Saturday’s final between Southampton and Hull, but that is considered a non-starter given the timeline, leaving any claim retrospective for damages.

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali said Wednesday his club had received legal advice that they should be automatically promoted to the Premier League as a result of Southampton’s expulsion rather than facing Middlesbrough in the final.

There appears little prospect of Hull pursuing that case in the next 48 hours, but the club could also seek damages if beaten at Wembley in a match worth a minimum of £200 million to the winner.

The publication of the written reasons is key because the EFL has provided little explanation of how it reached its decisions or the process involved, a source close to the situation said.

By imposing two sanctions — expulsion from the final and a four-point penalty in next season’s Championship — after Southampton admitted to spying, the panel appears to have treated the playoffs as a separate competition, analysts noted.

The EFL rulebook contains no reference to the procedure for replacing an expelled team, though its guidance notes state the playoff final should be contested between two semi-final winners, a condition that will not be met Saturday.

Wrexham and Millwall declined to comment on the matter.

The Football Association is expected to bring charges against individuals after confirming it is investigating Southampton’s conduct, and the position of the club’s manager, Tonda Eckert, is regarded as untenable by the squad, according to sources.

Southampton player Leo Scienza described the expulsion as “heartbreaking” and said the fans “definitely deserved better.”