Birmingham City and Wrexham fired cheeky digs at Southampton over the Spygate saga after the Championship fixtures were announced.
The Saints learned their fixture fate for the upcoming 2026/27 campaign, which kicks off in the wake of their unprecedented expulsion from last season’s play-offs.
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In the most dramatic of conclusions in English football’s second tier, Tonda Eckert’s side were denied a Wembley showdown with Hull City after admitting to spying on three other clubs’ training sessions.
It came after an analyst was caught filming Middlesbrough’s training ahead of their play-off semi-final first leg.
Southampton are now gearing up for another year in the second tier, after their hefty sanction ended their Premier League ambitions.
Their route out of the Championship will be tougher this time too, with the Saints also deducted four points from the start of the 2026/27 season by the EFL’s independent disciplinary commission.
‘Check training ground’
There will be plenty of eyes on Southampton in the upcoming season, who have already been given a taste of things to come.
After EFL clubs discovered their fixtures for the 2026/27 season, two of their Championship rivals wasted no time in poking fun at the south coast side over Spygate.
Birmingham begin their campaign away to Sheffield United, but highlighted their September clash with the Saints on social media.
A post from the club’s official X account read: “One of the other key fixtures to keep an eye on…”
Alongside this, the Blues posted a graphic of both clubs’ badges cut into grass hedges, shown through the eye of binoculars.
Another of Southampton’s rivals, Wrexham, also aimed a sly dig, after missing out on the Championship’s last play-off place last term.
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The Hollywood-owned outfit get their campaign underway with a Welsh derby against Cardiff on August 17, before meeting Eckert’s side 18 days late.
Alongside a photo of the fixture calendar in September, Wrexham included a caption that read: ‘Taking us into the international break’, with an emoji of a spy holding a magnifying glass.
The graphic also included a note to ‘check training ground’ two days before their game with the Saints
Eagle-eyed fans would have also noticed that Southampton’s crest had been edited to include a caricature of a man behind a tree.
This a reference to a leaked image of their intern, William Salt, standing behind a tree watching a training session, with images of this later spreading on social media during the scandal.
New rivalry
While plenty of teams will want to get one over Southampton, none will be more desperate than Middlesbrough.
Boro were subsequently reinstated into the play-offs but lost in the final to Hull City at Wembley Stadium.
As a result, the two sides will meet again in the second tier this term, and Sky Sports were quick to highlight the significance.
Following the fixtures’ release, the broadcaster shared a graphic online outlining the dates of the league’s fiercest derby clashes.
This included Millwall’s clash with newly-relegated rivals West Ham, as well as Southampton’s meeting with south coast adversaries Portsmouth.
Also mentioned in the post was the dates for the Saints’ reunion with Boro, reflecting the new-found hostilities between the pair.
Kim Hellberg’s side will have to wait a few months before they can seek revenge on Southampton though, with the two teams not facing off at St Mary’s until November 28.
The reverse fixture at the Riverside will take place on March 13 of next year, as the season begins to reach the run-in stage.
