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Hull City owner Acun Ilicali unleashed a stunning outburst ahead of Saturday's EFL Championship playoff final for the last Premier League promotion spot, vowing to pursue legal action if his side fall to Middlesbrough while also arguing that Wrexham deserved a place in the post-season.
Ilicali's surprising rant just before kickoff at Wembley marked the latest development in the controversy shaking English soccer: 'Spygate.'
Southampton confessed to spying on Middlesbrough's training sessions in the build-up to the first leg of their playoff semifinal earlier this month. The Saints were charged by the English Football League (EFL) and subsequently admitted to conducting unauthorized surveillance on three opposing teams' training sessions throughout the season. Before any punishment was handed down, Southampton eliminated Boro across both legs of the semifinal to seemingly secure their place in the playoff final against Hull.
However, the EFL made the shocking decision to remove the Saints from the playoff final—a ruling that was upheld on appeal—and restore the eliminated Middlesbrough to the competition.
Hull chief Ilicali has branded Boro's reinstatement "unbelievable," questioning why the playoffs weren't suspended once the spying allegations first emerged. In that scenario, the Tigers boss contended that the most equitable outcome would have been to determine Southampton's punishment before the semifinals were played and then, once it was confirmed they should be disqualified, offer a lifeline to Wrexham as the highest-placed team to miss out on a playoff berth.
"If this action was so big that a team is out of the playoffs, why didn't they let them not play the semifinal, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in?" Ilicali asked the BBC in a radio interview outside Wembley Stadium.
"Why is Wrexham out now? Put Wrexham in and continue the competition. For me, an eliminated team [being] put back—also our lawyers say this and that's their opinion too—is an incredibly wrong decision."
EFL Threatened With Legal Case for the Ages
The playoff final to determine who will join Coventry City and Ipswich Town in the Premier League next season will not conclude with Saturday's final whistle at Wembley if Hull City are defeated. Ilicali pledged to drag the EFL into court should his club be knocked out by a team that lost their playoff semifinal.
"Our legal team says that we have to go for action, that's for sure," Ilicali warned. "So we have no doubt about it. Here, all we want is justice. If justice is broken, nobody will enjoy football."
Promotion to the Premier League guarantees a minimum of $268.5 million (£200 million) in additional revenue thanks to the enormously inflated TV deals and prize money available to England's top-flight clubs. With those staggering sums at stake, it comes as little shock that Ilicali is willing to take drastic measures. Ideally, though, promotion will be settled on the field.
"Now I can talk a little more because now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me. I didn't want to make their focus disturbed," Ilicali explained. "Decisions are discussable from what I understand from our lawyers, very discussable.
"But of course we have to focus on the game and the boys are tough enough to overcome these difficulties."