HULL CITY head coach Sergej Jakirovic's call for the EFL not to rearrange the Championship play-off final beyond Saturday has been heeded by the governing body.

It came after he had voiced concern that the Tigers could become 'collateral damage' amid the Southampton 'Spygate' saga.

The Saints were kicked out of the post-season competition in a bombshell verdict delivered by an independent commission on Tuesday evening - after admitting to a trio of spying offences, including against semi-final opponents Middlesbrough.

The Teesside club were reinstated to the final following Southampton's expulsion, despite Saints' 2-1 aggregate success.

Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic with Millwall boss Alex Neil during their Championship play-off semi-final (Image: George Wood/Getty Images).

placeholder image — Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic with Millwall boss Alex Neil during their Championship play-off semi-final (Image: George Wood/Getty Images).

The south coast outfit - who also received a four-point deduction for next season - lodged an immediate appeal with the league arbitration panel, seeking to explore every legal avenue since the final is worth around £200million to the winner.

A hearing took place late on Wednesday and it was announced late on in the evening that the decision to remove Saints was upheld.

Ahead of the appeal decision, the league made contingencies on both fronts regarding Hull's potential final opponents on Saturday.

They confirmed that if the showpiece was contested between the Tigers and Boro in an all-Yorkshire final, the kick-off time would move forward to 3.30pm.

A successful Southampton appeal would have meant that the final would kick off at the original scheduled time of 4.30pm.

Caught in the middle of a very messy situation and effectively the unwitting victims, Hull continued preparations for this weekend ahead of travelling south later on Thursday.

Speaking earlier this week, Jakirovic had revealed his concerns regarding the game being rescheduled next week.

Hull duo Amir Hadziahmetovic and Ivor Pandur have been called up by their respective countries for international duties. A new date could also have favoured Boro if they are in the final.

If that happened, Boro's star player Hayden Hackney, who has been out since mid-March with a calf injury but is on the comeback trail, would have been allowed extra preparation time.

Reports on Tuesday said that Hull were considering launching legal action after Southampton's expulsion and were ready to take action "if they believe they are being unfairly treated."

Speaking to The Athletic, Jakirovic added: "I can say we, Hull City, are collateral damage.

"To me, the biggest problem is if they postpone the Saturday game. This would be the biggest problem. How can you keep focus and concentration of the players after a very long season?

"When we won at Millwall on (last) Monday, already we start to prepare for (next) Saturday’s game. We started to prepare for Southampton on Tuesday because they won."

Alluding to the prospect of preparing for a final against Boro instead, the Bosnian-born head coach continued: "If they change something, then we will prepare for another game.”

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Josh Windass, part of a Wrexham side who finished seventh, called for the play-offs to be started again, with his team involved, following Southampton's expulsion.

Several Championship clubs are likely to be monitoring the situation - and any reinstatement of Southampton would muddy the waters further in that regard.

Alongside being found guilty of spying on Boro ahead of the first leg at the Riverside Stadium, Saints also admitted to charges of observing training sessions at Oxford United last December and Ipswich Town in April.

All those incidents occurred after the appointment of one-time Barnsley coach Tonda Eckert as Southampton's head coach in early December.