Southampton are due to play Hull City at Wembley o May 23rd in the Championship playoff.
And the prize could hardly be greater, with a place in the Premier League at stake, and a game that has been dubbed as the “richest in football” because of the financial rewards that await the winner.
But it is still not clear as to whether Southampton will even take part in that match, after a member of their staff was caught illegally filming their semi-finals opponents Middlesbrough as they prepared for the first leg meeting between the two.
That he was spying does not appear in any doubt. What is less certain in what the sanction should be. An independent panel has been appointed and their remit is to come up with a decision before that final takes place.
The only precedent was the Leeds United of Marcelo Bielsa who were found guilty of similar offences, and were fined £200,000 by the English Football League after manager Marcelo Bielsa admitted sending a club employee to observe a training session held by Derby County F.C. before a Championship match.
But the rules have been tightened up since then, and Football League rules now explicitly prohibit the type of illicit intelligence gathering that Southampton indulged in on this occasion.
There could also be wider implications. If this is proven to be a systematic practice that Southampton adopted with other teams, those that ended up on the wrong side of results against the Saints may feel they have a case for those results to be annulled, and games to be replayed.
And that would open up a whole can of worms about the integrity of the competition.
Whatever the short-term outcome, the legal repercussions could last for years.
