Southampton backs ‘spygate’ Eckert despite world’s most lucrative game miss

Southampton back Tonda Eckert despite missing out on a playoff final for a Premier League place due to spying scandal.Southampton manager Tonda Eckert celebrates after the playoff semifinal victory against Middlesbrough, May 12, 2026 [Peter Cziborra/Reuters]Published On 2 Jun 2026Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has apologised for orchestrating the “spygate” scandal that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship playoffs, as owner Dragan Solak insisted that he would not sack the German.“For everything that’s happened, I do want to apologise, and I hold my hand up because as a head coach I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club,” Eckert said in a video statement on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4‘Dreams come true’: Tennis stars relish Serena Williams’s on-court comebacklist 2 of 4‘Embarrassing’ visa debacle delays South Africa’s World Cup 2026 departurelist 3 of 4African powerhouse Morocco eye World Cup 2026 glory despite AFCON falloutlist 4 of 4Vallejo fined for sexist remarks about female referee at French Openend of listThe Saints were kicked out of last month’s playoff final after admitting they had observed a training session held by semifinal opponents Middlesbrough, as well as two other similar incidents during the season.They also received a four-point deduction that will be applied to the 2026-27 Championship table, while the Football Association has opened its own investigation and could yet charge Eckert.An independent disciplinary commission of the English Football League (EFL) ruled that there had been a “contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage” through spying missions.It said Eckert had authorised the tactics, highlighting the “particularly deplorable” use of junior members of staff to conduct clandestine operations.Southampton beat Middlesbrough 2-1 over two legs in the playoff semifinals, but Boro were reinstated, going on to lose in the final to Hull City, who were promoted to the Premier League.The prize for the winners of the final is regarded as the most lucrative in world football, with the winners joining the richest domestic league in the world. Hull will receive an estimated 200 million pounds ($268m) in extra income.Eckert, who was appointed head coach in December, put out an eight-minute video statement about the scandal on Southampton’s social media channels.The 33-year-old said: “I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship [with fans] back up, the season has come to an end, come to an end that couldn’t have left us in a worse place than we are in right now.”He claimed that observing other teams was routine in other countries, though he admitted that this was not an excuse for his actions in the English second tier.“When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup that we’ve chosen for the games was always out in the media before games,” he said.“And the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed from the media and have always been observed from opponent teams that we came up against.“[Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this in his time at Bayern Munich, that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.”Many had anticipated Eckert would lose his job after Southampton’s expulsion from the playoffs, but chairman Solak gave robust backing to Eckert in his own post on the club’s channels on Tuesday.“Tonda’s period as our head coach has been a success so far. Our form during 2026 has been remarkable, and we believe he is the man to take us forward,” Solak said.“As a board, we are fully behind him, and together we only have one objective – we want promotion back to Premier League.”Solak told the BBC separately that Tonda had been subject to a witch-hunt in the media, saying he believed the club had been “over-sentenced”.The Serbian, whose media company acquired a majority stake in the south-coast club in 2022, said: “I believe Tonda that he didn’t know that it was the rule that he was breaking.“My personal opinion, and the opinion of the board, is that he is a manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us.”