“It all started behind a pine tree. The setting was Middlesbrough’s Rockliffe Park training ground, two days before the club were due to meet Southampton in the Championship play-off semi-finals. Will Salt, a first-team performance analyst intern working for Southampton, had travelled north to gather intelligence on the club’s opponents as they trained a few metres away beyond a metal fence. He stationed himself behind the tree and got out his mobile phone to record Middlesbrough’s players, hoping he would go unnoticed. …”
NYT/ATH