Today’s the day, it would seem. With the EFL promising the hearing on Southampton’s crafty capers at Middlesbrough’s training ground, dubbed “Spygate” as predictable as an episode of “Last of the Summer Wine” ending with Compo in an out-of-control wheelbarrow, would take place today at the latest, we should find out what happens in this bizarre conclusion to the Championship season any minute….or at least what the next step will be.

However, the pre-hearing machinations have raised a reasonable question, which a finding in Middlesbrough’s favour will only strengthen: should Wrexham have been in the play-offs this season?

It’s not as fanciful a notion as you might think. The spying offence took place before the first leg, so the EFL could have acted instantly, suspending the play-offs to carry out their investigation. I know that would lead to a lot of disruption, but when you consider the fiasco which might be about to begin with Southampton’s expulsion today, it would have been much better to bite the bullet then rather than hope Middlesbrough would win the tie and do the EFL’s job for them. There would, after all, then be a week to rearrange the semi-final before the climactic match at Wembley.

Then there’s the further claims that Southampton have been spying on opponents’ training sessions before the play-offs. We don’t know if that’s the case, of course, but it has certainly been widely reported and Middlesbrough seemed confident they would be able to present testimony from other clubs to support their case.

However, the EFL refused Boro the right to make a case to the hearing, and as far as The Athletic understands, no other club has come forward to the EFL, whether or not they have made private intimations to Middlesbrough that they were spied upon.

If these matters had been acted upon then, the seventh team would surely have been elevated to the play-offs. Now who was that again?

It does leave you with an unpleasant taste in the mouth, after the emphatic 5-1 trouncing we suffered at Southampton’s hands in the run-in, to consider that they might have gained an unfair advantage over us. Two of their goals did come directly from set pieces, and while I’m not suggesting for a moment that the end result was down to anything other than their superiority on the night, football is a low-scoring sport: a brace of goals is not an insignificant advantage to gain as a consequence of some alleged espionage in the grounds of Colliers Park!

I’m not going to go down the clickbait route and suggest the EFL are about to announce that the play-offs must be started again: I’ll leave that nonsense to the professionals!

However, if Southampton are found to be guilty of spying on Boro and expelled from the final, it would be fair to say they would have received the same sanction if the case had come to light a fortnight earlier. There’s no way the EFL would allow the play-offs to begin a team short, with one side given a bye to the final. Apart from the loss of gate revenue and a failure to provide a play-off semi-final for Sky, the logistics would have been a minefield.

Who would play whom? Would Middlesbrough get the walkover? That sounds reasonable until you consider that Millwall, having finished third, surely had earned that right. But declaring that would mean that the teams that were jostling for the best finish to secure preferable semi-final opponents and home advantage would then find the goal posts moved on them.

It’s certainly not the way anyone would want to reach the play-offs, but who cares? Did Denmark want to give back the 1992 European Championship because they didn’t qualify for it? No, of course not. Some would turn their noses up at an unexpected chance of a spot in the Premier League, suggesting we aren’t ready and hadn’t earned it. Perhaps, but Sunderland were apparently in the same boat a year ago following their shock post-season success, and they seem to have made a decent fist of this season!

Still, it is what it is. It’s a matter which only concerns Southampton, Hull and Middlesborough, in the short term at least. Whether a further can of worms is opened, and a deeper inquiry into Southampton’s scouting “methods” is conducted over the Summer could be revealing. Might that start next season with a points deduction? A relegation even? And how far would repercussions go internally if they are found guilty?

It’s hard to believe any of this will come to pass. Still, if I’d told you a fortnight ago that this remarkable fiasco was round the corner, you’d dismiss the idea as ludicrous, wouldn’t you?