Is Southampton boss Tonda Eckert going to get banned? | OneFootball

The Southampton head coach is in hot water over the Spygate affair, but the club have pledged to stand by Tonda Eckert ahead of an FA investigation.

The Southampton head coach could be in hot water over his involvement in the Spygate scandal, but his club have kept faith in him so far.

Amid the myriad problems caused for Southampton by the Spygate scandal, the question of what might happen next was somewhat overlooked. The club's elimination from the Championship play-offs, missing out on the opportunity of getting promoted back to the Premier League after just a season away, was a huge deal, but it did leave the question of how the club's summer might look outstanding.

At the top of the list of concerns over what might happen next to Southampton has been the fate of head coach Tonda Eckert. Leaked details of conversations held between club officials have indicated that the entire affair originated with Eckert, and this has led to widespread calls for an investigation into what was going on at St Mary's throughout the 2025-26 season.

Eckert himself has admitted full responsibility for the saga, adding that, "I hope that over time you can understand and forgive." But with almost a month now having passed since the club were sanctioned by the EFL, there has been no word of whether a broader investigation is actually taking place by the Football Association themselves.

Eckert's Spygate involvement defence has been described as "brazen"

The unprecedented nature of the charges levelled at Southampton over the Spygate scandal have made predicting what further action might take place extremely difficult. There were reports in May that the FA were "considering charging" Eckert with misconduct, though nothing has come from these reports yet.

But some of the reporting has been less than sympathetic towards him. The Mirror, for example, described his counter-argument that spying on opposing teams in his native Germany was commonplace as "brazen."

The club have vowed to stick by him. In an interview given to the BBC's Dan Roan at the start of June, owner Dragan Solak confirmed that the club would not be sacking Eckert.

Asked by Roan whether the club would sack him were he banned by the FA, Solak confirmed his intention to stick by his head coach: "I can support him even if he’s banned because you know but I can’t make him manage his band so my support comes from a very simple legal, if you want, situation, where, you know, there is no double jeopardy."

Dragan Solak may yet end up with little choice over whether he keeps Tonda Eckert or not

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The accusations levelled against Southampton have been serious, with reports that Eckert could be banned for up to a year, but it's not difficult to see why Dragan Solak would want to stand by his man, because Tonda Eckert did have a transformative effect on the team's fortunes last season.

When Will Still was dismissed by the Saints on the 2nd November, they were in 21st place in the Championship table, just one place and three points above the relegation places, having taken just two points from their previous five League matches and with just two League wins all season.

By the end of the season, that position couldn't have looked more different. The Saints finished their Championship season in fourth place in the table, having lost just five League matches under him, finishing their season with a remarkable 19-match unbeaten run which saw them drop just ten points.

On top of this, their FA Cup run took them all the way to a narrow semi-final defeat against Manchester City, beating the eventual Premier League champions on the way. No club owner is going to volunteer to discipline a head coach or manager who can put together such a run of form.

But Solak's comments do overlook the fact that he might not have much choice in the matter. Were Eckert to end up with a ban as a result of this, Southampton themselves would be opening themselves up to serious action were they to retain him.

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And central to any FA investigation may well end up being whether the club was up to more than they admitted to or not. The charges brought by the EFL came to centre on three matches; the play-off semi-final first leg against Middlesbrough and League matches against Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April.

One of their bigger concerns will be whether these were the only three matches in which this happened all season, or whether this was far more widespread behaviour from the club which has not come to light.

Were it to emerge that this was endemic throughout the club - and the levels of preparation revealed from those WhatsApp leaks hint that the possibility of this could be greater than zero - then the matter would surely become more serious still.

If Eckert is banned for a lengthy period of time, his position at St Mary's will surely become untenable. Were Southampton to continue to employ a banned manager, the club themselves would be leaving themselves prone to the possibility of extremely serious sanctions themselves, and while Dragan Solak's fighting words may play well with fans, they're likely to have the exact opposite effect on the game's regulators.

The wheels of FA justice can turn extremely slowly at times, and there could well be a further delay before a decision is reached. But having witnessed how seriously the EFL took the charges against Southampton, there's little to suggest that the overall governing body won't do as well.

Should they end up proceeding, Dragan Solak will have to make a decision over whether he wants to stand by his manager come what may or take a more pragmatic approach when it comes to the future employment of his head coach.