Southampton boss Eckert takes blame for 'spygate' scandal

Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has apologised for orchestrating the “spygate” scandal that led to the club’s expulsion from the Championship play-offs as owner Dragan Solak insisted that he would not sack the German.

Saints were kicked out of last month’s play-off final after admitting they had observed a training session held by semi-final 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 that 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 play-off semi-finals, but Boro were reinstated, going on to lose in the final to Hull, who were promoted to the Premier League.

Eckert, who was appointed as head coach in December, on Tuesday put out an eight-minute video statement about the scandal on Southampton’s social media channels.

“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,” he said.

‘Devastated’

The 33-year-old added: “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 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 line-up 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.”

Eckert was widely expected to lose his job after Southampton’s expulsion from the play-offs, which cost the club a shot at an immediate return to the Premier League and a windfall of around £200 million ($269 million).

But Southampton 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 that he believed the club had been “over-sentenced”.

The Serbian, whose media company acquired a majority stake of 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.”