Matt Le Tissier has branded Southampton's expulsion from the play-offs as "too severe", calling for Hull City to advance automatically.
The Saints were booted out following the 'spygate' affair, after an Independent Disciplinary Commission delivered its verdict.
Le Tissier feels the punishment handed to Southampton by the EFL has gone too far.
He said: "The EFL's announcement was a little bit of a shock, I didn't think the punishment would be that severe for the crime that was committed.
"We needed to be punished, 100 per cent, but to me it feels like they've used a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
"I feel like the punishment is a bit disproportionate to the crime that was committed," he told Midnite.
Le Tissier described the penalty imposed on the Saints as "the biggest sporting sanction that has ever been imposed on a football club", considering the financial implications of the matter.
He said: "When you think it's the possibility of costing us £215million, or whatever it is.
Matt Le Tissier labelled Southampton's punishment as 'too severe'
|PA
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"I know there's a 50/50 chance of that if you win the game, with the final still to be played, so it's basically £107.5m as a fine, and four points deducted as well.
"We have seen, other clubs get demoted for massive financial irregularities or betting scandals in Italy, that kind of stuff, real serious stuff, but I think for what the crime was here was marginal gains, and it's pretty obvious that those gains are marginal because the three games that surfaced, we didn't win any of those three games, so any information that we got obviously didn't make any difference to the results.
"My gut feeling is that it's a really harsh penalty. I know the club investigated, did an investigation themselves.
"They cooperated fully with the Football League and were quite surprised at the level of sanction."
Le Tissier said his 'gut feeling is that it's a really harsh penalty'
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Following the punishment imposed by the EFL, the Saints legend called for "Hull to go up".
He explained: "If the EFL are expelling us, I think probably Hull should go up. I think that's the best solution.
"Middlesbrough haven't deserved to be in the final. They didn't win over two legs. I think it probably would have been fairer to have just said that Hull need to go up because the team that they're meant to be playing against have been sanctioned and that's it.
"Obviously, I don't think that would happen because there's a lot of money that's going to be made on Saturday, and as we know in football, money talks a lot."
The Saints legend called on Hull City to go up automatically
| GETTYMiddlesbrough are set to play Hull at Wembley on May 23 with an earlier kick-off time of 3:30pm.
Should Boro feature, Le Tissier thinks the game will be too tight to call.
He said: "From what I've seen, I would say Middlesbrough are probably a slightly better footballing team. But I think their lack of a cutting edge in front of goal probably means that Hull have got a puncher's chance.
"I really think it's a flip of a coin in this one. I wouldn't be surprised if there was much difference in the odds between them when it comes down to it on Saturday."
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