Taylor Harwood-Bellis has been accused of ‘referencing Luke Ayling’s speech impediment’ in the’discriminatory language’ row from Tuesday night’s Championship play-off semi-final.
Ayling was incensed by something Harwood-Bellis, who is engaged to Man United legend Roy Keane‘s daughter Leah, said to him on the pitch.
The heated row spilled over onto the touchline and the managers had to be separated when the referee was explaining the dispute to them.
According to the Athletic, the confrontation was sparked by Harwood-Bellis speaking about Ayling’s stammer to the Middlesbrough defender.
Ayling, 34, has bravely addressed living with the speech impediment before, previously telling the BBC: ‘And I’ve kind of got to a point now where I just don’t care. If I do an interview and I have a stutter, I see a lot of things online when people say that I say ‘then’ and ‘like’ a lot but that’s my safety blanket kind of thing.’
Fans watching the live coverage of Southampton‘s dramatic 2-1 win that sent them to the Championship play-off final were in the dark over what caused such a heated reaction from players and staff alike during a game played under the shadow of the ‘spygate’ scandal.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis (left) was accused of using discriminatory language towards Luke Ayling (right)
Daily Mail Sport’s lip-reading expert Jeremy Freeman has studied the footage for a better grip of what actually went on between the players and then managers Tonda Eckert and Kim Hellberg.
He says the Middlesbrough boss said to referee Andrew Madley: ‘What was said? ….yes…yes…yes…ok…ok.’
Eckert, when told about what was reported to the official, then appeared dismissive, adding: ‘Oh come on, do me a favour please, do me a favour please, do me… shame on you, come on.’
Eckert was then confronted by Hellberg about his response as they were separated, saying: ‘Hey, why are you saying that, what are you saying that for, why are you saying that, hey you can’t say that, you can’t say that.’
Freeman also studied Ayling, saying the defender told Saints player Shea Charles about Harwood-Bellis’ words: ‘You can’t take the p***… it’s against… so you’re not allowed to say it, it’s not allowed.’
Middlesbrough’s centre-back Dael Fry then waded in shouting: ‘Shut your f***ing mouth.’
Middlesbrough assistant Adi Viveash had to be held back by the fourth official and the tension between both camps that had been building all tie almost ran out of control.
The FA will now review Madley’s report and decide whether to open up an investigation into Harwood-Bellis’ conduct.
Harwood-Bellis proposed to Leah Keane on a yacht on the Amalfi coast in 2024
Leah is the fourth child of Manchester United and Republic of Ireland legend Roy Keane
Harwood-Bellis, 24, is set to marry Keane’s daughter Leah in the summer after proposing to her two years ago.
More to follow…
