The news has just broken that "Southampton's spying on rival clubs was authorised by head coach Tonda Eckert and was a "contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage", an independent disciplinary panel says.
The BBC has published that the panel also criticised the club's "deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff" to "conduct the clandestine observation".
Saints were expelled from the Championship play-offs after admitting to observing opponents' training sessions and have been deducted four points in the Championship next season.
Written reasons explaining the panel's finding have now been published by the English Football League.
In an embarrassing turn of events, the disciplinary panel's “top-down” statement hints at a much deeper issue that could involve Southampton representatives at the board level.
Until today, many Southampton fans have defended the position that the club has been treated too harshly by the EFL. Few of those still feel the same way.
Eckert "accepted that he had specifically authorised the observations", which had "seriously violated" the integrity of the competition, the panel said when explaining why it had applied such a serious sanction.
In addition to the expulsion and point penalty punishments, a reprimand was also imposed on Southampton.
This was not just because other teams had been spied on, but "because of the way in which junior members of staff were put under pressure to carry out activities which they felt were morally wrong", the panel stated.
The whole matter only arose after a junior member of staff was spotted secretly watching Middlesbrough at their training ground.
The whole Spygate scandal leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Saints fans who have been behind the team since the now-disgraced Head Coach took over as interim Head Coach following Will Still's sacking.
Those fans will now have to endure the predictable and inevitable barracking from opposition supporters, particulalry Pompey fans who are revelling in the chaos of the discredited club and its expulsion from the play-offs.
Tonda Eckert's own reputation is in tatters, and he may struggle to find another club willing to take him on after this. Few will be surprised if he is gone by the morning and on his way back home to Germany before the weekend is through.
Tonda brought Southampton fans a season that they will never forget. A trip to Wembley. A meteoric rise up the table. A win over the now Premier League Champions at St Mary's. Ultimately, though, he will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
He will be remembered as the man who brought shame on a proud club with proud traditions. Shame.
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