Wrexham have entered the Southampton ‘Spygate’ affair as a potential playoff victim days after Josh Windass set his playoff demands to the EFL.
The past 72 hours have shaken EFL Championship football to the core. The EFL issued a playoff final expulsion to Southampton and a 4-point deduction in the aftermath of their ‘Spygate’ scandal.
Initially, the Saints appeared to have spied only on playoffs rivals Middlesbrough however, the can of worms has been opened now. Southampton have admitted guilt for spying on Oxford United and Ipswich Town as well, and although they won a combined 1 point in those two matches this raises big questions.
What if Southampton had spied on every Championship rival all season? More specifically, on Wrexham. The Red Dragons succumbed to home and away defeats to Tonda Eckert’s men and any result other than that could have drastically changed the playoffs outcome for Wrexham.
Wrexham could be playoff victims of Southampton’s ‘Spygate’ scandal
Phil Parkinson’s side closed the 2025/26 Championship campaign with 71 points, 2 short of sixth placed Hull City who went on to make the playoffs final. That said, Wrexham are well within their rights to feel wronged in the whole ‘Spygate’ event.
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Earlier this week, Josh Windass spoke his mind on the matter and even suggested reinstating Wrexham in the playoffs and restarting the playoffs semi-finals from scratch. Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have also poked fun on Southampton’s spying affair on their part.
But will the club do anything about it? Well, the answer is Yes. Wrexham has now entered the Southampton ‘Spygate’ affair going by recent reports.
Wrexham enter Southampton ‘Spygate’ affair as potential victims
According to a recent Guardian report: “Millwall and Wrexham could seek to test whether the EFL rulebook has been correctly applied or whether the disciplinary process was flawed, and could argue that because Southampton’s spying on Middlesbrough took place before the playoffs, they should have been replayed without Southampton’s involvement.”
For Wrexham, it’s crystal clear that any unfair advantage gained by Southampton in the 2 Championship meetings ended up dashing a last-gasp Wrexham playoffs finish. Millwall’s case might seem surprising at first, considering they lost fair and square to Hull City over two legs in their respective playoffs semi-final.
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However, it’s much more complex beyond that. This year, the Championship playoff race and the automatic promotion race for the second spot both went down to the wire on the final matchday.
While Wrexham were eyeing a sixth placed finish, Millwall were hoping for Ipswich Town to drop points and win their game to mark a direct long-awaited return to the Premier League. Eventually, Millwall just ended 1 point short of Ipswich Town.
For that reason, they are fair to be raging in anger of what might have happened had Southampton not spied on them or any of their automatic promotion rivals. Quite possibly, Millwall would be in Ipswich Town’s shoes today.
Numerous Wrexham fans are also wondering whether or not Phil Parkinson’s men were robbed of tomorrow’s Championship playoff final solely because of Southampton’s wrongdoing. All in all, Wrexham should see out the end of this ‘Spygate’ saga and try claiming damages for it if they can.
Grinding through a 46-game league season where almost half of the division eyes Premier League promotion isn’t easy, let alone being on the disadvantaged side of it due to other clubs resorting to unfair means.
It’s now too late for EFL to try restarting the entire 2025/26 playoffs from scratch but Wrexham can atleast get compensated with a potential Southampton fine. Let’s see if that happens.
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