Sunderland midfielder back in training at Middlesbrough after dramatic 24-hours ahead of Wembley final
Sunderland midfielder Alan Browne is on loan at Middlesbrough and has a chance of Premier League promotion.
On-loan Sunderland midfielder Alan Browne is back in training at Middlesbrough today following a dramatic 24-hours in the Championship.
It comes after Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs after admitting to spying on opponents on three occasions this season, including play-off opponents Middlesbrough earlier this month. The decision by an independent commission denies Saints a shot at Premier League promotion, estimated to be worth at least £200million, unless the Hampshire club can overturn the sanction on appeal, being heard on Wednesday.
The club have also been docked four points for next season, with Middlesbrough reinstated to the play-offs and set to take Southampton’s place in Saturday’s final against Hull.
The ‘Spygate’ scandal began when Middlesbrough reported to the EFL that a member of Southampton staff had observed their training session on May 7, two days before the play-off semi-final first leg at the Riverside Stadium, in breach of league rules. The EFL issued charges against Southampton the following day.
The EFL confirmed on Tuesday that further charges were laid last Sunday – May 17. The EFL said Southampton had admitted observing training sessions held by Oxford in December – less than a month after current head coach Tonda Eckert took charge – and by Ipswich in April, in addition to the Middlesbrough session earlier this month.
Southampton’s appeal will be heard on Wednesday, which means the date and make-up of the play-off final is still subject to change. Boro had last week called for Southampton to be thrown out, and issued a statement on Tuesday evening welcoming the commission’s decision, adding: “We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct. “As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Midfielder Browne, 31, has made 43 appearances for Boro this season, scoring four goals in the process during an impressive season-long loan stint. Boro were back in training today ahead of the Saturday final, which is currently set to be played at 3.30pm.
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Speaking earlier in the season, Browne admitted that he was disappointed not to be given a chance by Sunderland in the Premier League this term. "Yeah, of course [I’m disappointed], I think a lot of people probably are from last year,” he told BBC Radio Tees.
"We're the players who got the club there and you'd like to think you'd be rewarded with a fair chance the following season. I'm disappointed but I completely understand the club's outlook. They want to stay in the Premier League, progress and get as high up the table as they can. They've made the choice to spend that money and bring in players who they think are capable of doing that and they didn't think most of the previous players were.
"It could be a fair assessment because you see it so often where teams go up and come down and go back up and become a yo-yo team. They obviously don't want to do that. I think they've probably looked at Nottingham Forest from a few years ago and tried to replicate that. Hopefully it works out. I'm not going to talk bad about them. I'm disappointed, which is fair, but hopefully I'll get another chance next season."
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