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Hull to take legal action if they lose play-off final

BBC Sport

Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has vowed to take legal action if the Tigers do not win Saturday's Championship play-off final against Middlesbrough. Boro lost to Southampton in the semi-final - but were reinstated after Saints admitted to spying on the Teessiders' training session and were expelled from the competition . "Our legal team says that we have to go for action, that's for sure," Ilicali told BBC Radio Humberside outside Wembley Stadium before kick-off in the final.

"So we have no doubt about it. Here, all we want is justice. If justice is broken, nobody will enjoy football.

" Ilicali described the decision to allow Middlesbrough to re-enter the play-offs as "unbelievable". He said: "If this action was so big that a team is out of the play-offs, why didn't they let them not play the semi-final, investigate and take Southampton out and put Wrexham in? "Why is Wrexham out now?

Put Wrexham in and continue the competition. "For me, an eliminated team {being] put back - also our lawyers say this and that's their opinion too - is an incredibly wrong decision. " The 56-year-old, who took over Hull City in 2022, said he did not want to discuss the outcome of the EFL's independent disciplinary commission's hearing before the day of the final to avoid distracting the players.

"Now I can talk a little more because now the boys are in the stadium and they will not hear me. I didn't want to make their focus disturbed," he added. "Decisions are discussable from what I understand from our lawyers, very discussable.