Ian Mcauley, a 71-year-old Southampton fan from Australia, flew all the way to the UK to watch his team in the play-off final, only to discover upon landing that the Saints had been kicked out of the match.
Long journey ends in disappointment
Mr Mcauley has been following Southampton since he was seven years old and finally took the 22-hour trip from Perth to London to watch his beloved side compete at Wembley this afternoon. However, while he was mid-flight, the spygate scandal broke, and he found out only after landing that the Saints had been expelled from the match.
He spent £3,449 on two flights from Perth to attend the game with his cousin, booking the tickets after Southampton's semi-final victory against Middlesbrough. He had been 'ecstatic' after the victory and excited at the prospect of finally making it to Wembley, having left the UK for Australia with his family more than 50 years ago in 1970.
Shock upon landing
Mr Mcauley left Perth on Wednesday evening, before the final decision had been taken. Upon landing from the first leg of his journey in Dubai, he received messages from dozens of people telling him the game was off.
Southampton were thrown out of the play-offs just days before the final, after the Daily Mail revealed that the Saints had sent a junior analyst intern to watch Middlesbrough's training 48 hours before their meeting in the semi-final first leg. The club admitted to spying on their opponents and two other teams but appealed against the punishment, which puts promotion to the Premier League out of reach for another year.
Southampton will also be docked four points next season. On Wednesday, their appeal was denied, and due to the time zone difference, Mr Mcauley was still in the air when the decision was made. Middlesbrough will take Southampton's place in today's match against Hull City, which kicks off at 3.30pm.
Fan's frustration
'I'm not a very emotional person but it's tough stuff because the players, the supporters have done nothing,' Mr Mcauley told the BBC. 'To me, it looked like a witch hunt - there seemed to be a lot of people coming to the fore saying things to try and get us kicked out, for whatever reason. That was a bit of a shock, because Southampton has always been known, in my lifetime, as a club that does things right, and it's a club I've been extremely proud to be associated with for all my time.'
He added that ticket sales should have been stopped while the investigation was ongoing until a verdict had been reached on the club's place in the match. Mr Mcauley recalls how his father was the first person to get him into football, and that despite leaving the UK at just seven years old, he kept up with his beloved team through his uncle, newspapers, and now social media. He still remembers the excitement of attending his first game, describing how he was 'hooked' on the sport for good from that moment.
