Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ELIZABETH HAIGH, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:38 BST, 23 May 2026 | Updated: 15:36 BST, 23 May 2026
A Southampton fan from Australia who flew all the way to the UK to watch his team in the play-off final has been left furious after discovering they have been kicked out of today's match.Ian Mcauley, 71, has been following the team since he was just seven years old and finally took the 22-hour trip to London to watch his beloved side compete at Wembley this afternoon.But while he was mid-flight this week, the spygate scandal broke and he found out only upon landing that the Saints had been relegated from the match. Mr Mcauley spent £3,449 on two flights from Perth to attend the game with his cousin, booking the tickets after his side's semi-final victory against Middlesbrough.He had been 'ecstatic' after the victory and excited at the prospect of finally making it to Wembley, having left the UK for Australia with his family more than 50 years ago in 1970.Mr Mcauley told how he left Perth on Wednesday evening, before the final decision had been taken, and upon landing from the first leg of his journey in Dubai he received messages from dozens of people telling him the game was off.Tonda Eckert's side were thrown out of the play-offs just days before the final, after the Daily Mail revealed that the Saints had sent a junior analyst intern to watch Middlesbrough's training 48 hours before their meeting in the semi-final first leg.Southampton admitted to having spied on their opponents - and two other teams - but appealed against the punishment imposed, which puts promotion to the Premier League out of reach for another year. Ian Mcauley (left), 71, has been following the team since he was just seven years old and finally took the 22-hour trip to London to watch his beloved side compete at Wembley this afternoon Tonda Eckert's side were thrown out of the play-offs just days before the final, after the Daily Mail revealed that the Saints had sent a junior analyst intern to watch Middlesbrough's training 48 hours before their meeting in the semi-final first legSouthampton will also be docked four points next season. But on Wednesday their appeal was denied, and with the time zone difference, it meant Mr Mcauley was still in the air when the decision was made.Middlesbrough is instead taking Southampton's place in today's match against Hull City, which kicks off at 3.30pm. 'I'm not a very emotional person but it's tough stuff because the players, the supporters have done nothing,' Mr Mcauley told the BBC.'To me, it looked like a witch hunt - there seemed to be a lot of people coming to the fore saying things to try and get us kicked out, for whatever reason.'That was a bit of a shock, because Southampton has always been known, in my lifetime, as a club that does things right, ... and it's a club I've been extremely proud to be associated with for all my time.'
