Paul Merson has claimed that the decision to expel Southampton from the Championship play-offs could lead Wrexham, co-owned by Ryan Reynolds, to sue the Saints. An independent commission ruled on Tuesday that Southampton be removed from the play-off final after they were found guilty of spying on Middlesbrough's training session before their semi-final first leg.
Middlesbrough will now take Southampton's place at Wembley to face Hull City in the final, while Southampton also received a four-point penalty for the 2026/27 season after admitting to spying on other clubs earlier in the campaign. Wrexham finished seventh in the Championship, one place outside the play-offs, missing out on a potential £200million windfall from Premier League promotion.
Merson, speaking on behalf of Historic Newspapers, described the punishment as 'flabbergasting' and warned it could open a legal can of worms. 'Wrexham can start suing Southampton,' he said. 'Those Southampton players too, they had to take cuts when they got relegated and they were gonna get that back if they were promoted - now they're not getting that.'
The former Middlesbrough star also criticised the spying itself, calling it pointless in the modern era of analytics. 'Why would you have to send someone behind a tree to film on a phone camera? What are you missing? It's not that fine a line,' he said. Merson added that the first leg was one-sided, with Southampton barely leaving their half, making the advantage unclear.
Southampton won both league meetings with Wrexham this season, including a 5-1 victory at the Racecourse Ground last month. The Saints had been preparing for the play-off final before the expulsion, while Hull must now switch focus to facing Middlesbrough instead.
