Kim Hellberg said his trust in “doing the right thing” has been restored after Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs for the Spygate scandal. Middlesbrough had been angered when they discovered Southampton intern William Salt filming their training session 48 hours before the first leg of their semi-final. Hellberg described feeling relief and happiness, saying the evidence showed the correct approach was to work hard rather than cut corners. He said the conduct should never be allowed in football and spoke emotionally about the strain of watching video and spending time away from family. After a difficult week, he prepared to lead his team at Wembley while balancing time off with keeping players ready.
"“It's a feeling of relief, happiness, a little bit of trust in doing the right thing and humanity,” he told BBC Radio Tees. “The right way to do it is working hard, not doing something else when everyone will see with the evidence and everything we know. ”It is quite clear what has been done and that should never be allowed in football.”"
"Hellberg spoke emotionally after Boro's defeat in the semi-final second leg at St Mary's about spending time away from his family to watch hours of video in the build-up to the play-offs, while he believed Southampton had cut corners in a way that challenged football's integrity. But after a rollercoaster seven days in which he says his emotions were all over the place and included a break to his native Sweden, he was out for dinner with his young family when he found out he would be leading his team out at Wembley."
"“You try to balance how much time you can give the players off but keeping them ready to come in,” he said. “It was better to give them as many days off as possible and try for them to do other things, so you don't just think about it, wait for it, talk about it. But it's been very, very tough.”"
Read at www.bbc.com
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