Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has escaped a ban following the FA’s investigation into Spygate.
The Saints supremo has been handed a six-week expulsion from all football however, the penalty is suspended until the end of next season.
Southampton were thrown out of last season’s Championship play-offs after Daily Mail Sport’s incredible revelation that they had spied on opponents Middlesbrough at a training session.
The EFL then booted the club out of the play-offs, costing them a place in the Premier League worth a potential £200m, with a panel docking them a further four points.
The FA then launched its own probe, triggering concerns that Eckert could be hit with a lengthy ban.
However, he has instead been given a six-week suspension from all football which is suspended until the end of next season and handed a £28,000 fine and reprimands.
‘Southampton Football Club welcomes the outcome of the FA hearing into the events at the end of last season,’ a Southampton statement read.
‘We hope this now brings a conclusion to a regrettable period of our history and measures have been put in place to ensure that such errors in judgement never happen again at our club.
‘We want to take this opportunity to thank the supporters for their unconditional backing throughout this process. Our fan base is unmatched, and we are excited to move forward together towards a bright future.’
Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has been given a six-week suspended ban over the Spygate scandal
Will Salt was spotted at Middlesbrough’s training ground before their Championship play-off
Eckert was sanctioned for three breaches relating to spying on the training sessions of Boro, Oxford United and Ipswich Town in 2025 and 2026. Should Eckert repeat the offence, the suspension will be triggered.
Boro went on to lose the play-off final to Hull City, who were promoted.
The FA said that Eckert was the only witness their panel, which included two KCs, heard from and added that he was ‘exceptionally impressive’.
Explaining the Oxford incident, Eckert said that their opponents had sacked Gary Rowett as head coach and appointed Craig Short as interim and that he wanted to see if they were going to play with a back four or a back five so sent someone to watch them train.
In the Ipswich incident, he agreed to receive CCTV footage of them training at National League Eastleigh, ahead of their fixture with his Saints.
With regards to Boro, Eckert told the panel that in a preparation meeting he asked whether it would be possible to find out if Hayden Hackney had resumed training.
‘One of the assistants informed me that Middlesborough FC’s [sic] training ground is located on a golf course which is accessible to the public,’ he added.
‘I said that we should send someone there to see if Hayden Hackney was training. Nobody expressed any reservations or objections to this proposal.
‘The exchange took a matter of minutes and then we continued with the meeting. To confirm I did not ask for any videos to be taken of Middlesborough FC’s [sic] training sessions and I did not identify any particular individual to travel to Middlesborough [sic] to identify if Hayden Hackney was training. I do, however, accept that I was wrong to ask for any kind of observations.’
An intern was sent to the venue, who was subsequently spotted by Boro – who complained to the EFL – but not before Eckert had been ‘provided a breakdown of the videos… including the predicted line up.
‘I had already finished preparing for the match,’ he said, ‘but I watched the videos’.
The panel praised Eckert, 33, for his ‘genuine contrition’. He had argued that during his time in Germany and Italy, spying on training sessions of opponents was ‘commonplace’, that he was unaware it was against the rules in England and said that allegations he had bullied younger members of staff into spying were ‘extremely upsetting’, adding that he would have never have forced anyone to do anything to which they had a moral objection, let alone a breach of the rules.
The panel found there was no ‘systemic or organised course of action’ with regards to spying, and found ‘considerable mitigation’ with regards to Eckert who had shown ‘deep and meaningful’ remorse and ‘learned lessons’.
Southampton owner Dragan Solak added: ‘I’m pleased that the independent panel has come to a decision and that we have an outcome. We have already suffered enough, and we appreciate the panel’s recognition of that.
‘We are confident the manager has learned from this matter, and a suspended sentence allows him to continue in his role. I firmly believe that Tonda is one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches, and with this distraction removed, I am confident he can lead the team to a successful season.
‘I’d like to thank our fans for standing by us and showing the team so much support during a time when we have needed them more than ever.
‘The FA process has been a positive experience. Tonda has been given the opportunity to be open and honest with the panel, and the panel has been able to see that he is simply a good person who made poor decisions.
‘The same cannot be said for the EFL process, and the way they have subsequently treated us is not something we will forget. However, now is the time to look forward to what I believe will be a great future for our club.’
Before the verdict, Southampton had already lined up former Wolves and Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards to potentially step in if Eckert’s ban was lengthy.
Eckert had pleaded for sympathetic handling, telling the BBC this week that the club have already had a ‘big, big punishment’ while Saints chief executive Phil Parsons said: ‘What we hope as a club is they (the FA panel) actually recognise where we are at the moment, and what we’ve already been through, because I think it has to be taken into account.
‘I really feel like we’ve taken enough. We’ve been hurt. I think it’s one of the largest sanctions ever when it comes to football, or even sporting, history.’
