Someone off of the Boro Forum's summary of the Daily Mail Exclusive:
Daily Mail Sport can exclusively reveal the picture that proves the individual, who we have positively identified as Southampton intern William Salt
After investigating, we have found a picture of Salt on the shoulder of Saints manager Tonda Eckert celebrating his
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Manager of the Month prize for February. Salt, sources say, is a key part of Eckert's first-team operation and highly valued by the German head coach.
Interestingly, he was not present on the picture of Eckert and his backroom staff released last Thursday to mark April's Manager of the Month award. That was the same day he was pictured in the bushes at Middlesbrough's training base before being confronted by club staff and fleeing the area.
Eckert also won the prize for March and, again, Salt was not on the celebratory picture released to the media on April 9. Southampton beat play-off rivals
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2-1 two days later.
In another development, we understand he used his bank card on Thursday to buy a coffee at Rockliffe Hall
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- owned by Boro chairman Steve Gibson.
The apparent slip has given rise to the possibility of a paper trail across the country, with transactions close to the bases of other Championship clubs in the days prior to playing Southampton.
We understand that one Championship club believe they were spied on after changing manager prior to playing Eckert's side. CCTV is being reviewed. Since being appointed Saints boss in November, Eckert's team have the second-best record from set-pieces in the Championship.
Boro now suspect that last Thursday's episode was not the first time they have been the victim of such unsporting espionage.