EFL chair Rick Parry is confident the result of the Sky Bet Championship play-off final between Middlesbrough and Hull will stand amid the fallout of the ‘Spygate’ saga.
Hull triumphed 1-0 at Wembley to seal promotion to the Premier League, Saturday’s game following Boro’s reinstatement after Southampton were expelled for spying on a training session at the Teessiders’ Rockliffe Park base ahead of the first leg of the semi-final between the clubs.
Hull owner Acun Ilicali had indicated the Tigers could take legal action had they lost the final, while Southampton were unhappy after their appeal against their punishment was rejected.
Asked before the match if he believed the result would stand, Parry told talkSPORT: “I hope so, yes, of course. We have to move on, the season has to finish – players are going off to the World Cup on Monday.
“We all need clarity now and we all need certainty and what we have a habit of doing in football, all the precedents say that however frustrating it can be at times, you tend to look at punishments prospectively.
“If you had to unravel the whole of the previous season’s league table, you would never get a competition finished, so that is always a guiding principle – punishments happen forwards, not backwards.”
The debate over whether or not the Saints’ punishment was excessive – Boro had called for them to be thrown out of the play-offs before the independent commission which made the decision met – has raged since their appeal was rejected.
Parry, however, is confident it sent out the right message.
He said: “I don’t think too many teams will be spying on training going forwards.”
