Middlesbrough have caught what is thought to be a Southampton first-team analyst allegedly recording their training session from a bush, in a sensational repeat of the Marcelo Bielsa ‘spygate’ furore.
Daily Mail Sport can reveal that an individual was spotted and approached by club staff on Thursday morning at Boro’s Rockliffe Park training centre, 48 hours before Kim Hellberg’s side host Tonda Eckert's Saints in the Championship play-off semi-final first leg.
It is claimed the male deleted video and pictures from his mobile phone and refused to identify himself. He then left the site of the training ground and made his way into the nearby Rockliffe Hall Hotel, owned by Boro chairman Steve Gibson, before changing clothes in a toilet and leaving the area. It is understood Boro have contacted the EFL, given spying on opposition training would breach the League’s rules.
We are aware of the individual allegedly involved and his public profile pages identify him as a current employee of Southampton.