Southampton dressing room insider reveals how players feel about sacking Tonda Eckert | OneFootball

The German's future has been up in the air amid the fallout from spygate

The fallout from the spygate scandal involving Southampton has certainly taken up plenty of headline space in the past three weeks, and that has continued despite the conclusion of the 2025/26 Championship season last weekend.

It has been well-documented that Saints were expelled from the second tier play-offs after an independent disciplinary commission's initial decision to do so, as well as sanction the club with a four-point deduction after the admittance of multiple breaches of the EFL's 127th regulation, was upheld by a league arbitration panel.

Middlesbrough, who initially lodged complaints over a Southampton intern analyst being involved in unauthorised filming of a training session at Rockliffe Park ahead of the first of the two play-off semi-finals at the Riverside Stadium on May 9th, were subsequently reinstated into the promotion lottery, but were defeated 1-0 by Hull City at Wembley Stadium.

Saints, meanwhile, admitted to their further breaches ahead of matches against Oxford United and Ipswich Town in December 2025 and April 2026 respectively, before it emerged that the spying missions were green-lighted by German head coach, Tonda Eckert beforehand.

The 33-year-old had previously been the subject of rather understandable praise as the South Coast side had gone on a run of just one defeat in all competitions from January 17th onwards, with that also being a narrow defeat to eventual FA Cup winners, Manchester City, at the semi-final stage, at Wembley.

After the initial decision to uphold Saints' expulsion from the play-offs was confirmed, rife speculation over Eckert's future at the club surfaced immediately, but over a week later, no confirmation on the matter has been given by higher-ups at St Mary's.

However, it has now come to light how those inside the dressing room feel about the situation, even though it could still ultimately mean very little.

How Southampton players feel about Tonda Eckert's managerial situation revealed after spygate

It had previously been claimed that Saints could have been set to face a legal challenge from their squad after missing out on the chance of featuring in world football's most lucrative game, with eventual play-off winners, Hull, receiving approximately £215m in prize funds after Oli McBurnie's dramatic Wembley winner against Middlesbrough.

The immediate future of those players has already been a huge topic of discussion, with the likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Leo Scienza, in particular, attracting intense transfer interest in recent months.

However, whilst some are of the opinion that Eckert's position as head coach is untenable, the Sun claim that the majority of his players feel the opposite, and gave their backing in a meeting at the club's Staplewood training base.

A dressing room insider told the publication: “Most of the squad have given Tonda an overwhelmingly positive reaction despite what happened.

“Not everyone was completely happy, of course, but the majority of them believe keeping Tonda as manager gives them the best possible chance of getting promoted to the Premier League next season.”

Tonda Eckert's Southampton FC future still at risk despite dressing room backing

This isn't, by any means, the end of the saga, though, as it has been widely reported that ownership group, Sport Republic, could still fire the German boss, with the Football Association recently opening up their own investigation.

The governing body could hit Eckert with a ban after an act which brings football into disrepute, with comparisons being made to that of the Canadian women's team's sanctions after the 2024 Paris Olympics, where head coach, Bev Priestman, was banned for one year after using a drone to spy on training sessions.

Football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, has also reiterated that the Saints' hierarchy are likely to be addressing the matter currently, which would impact the timescale of a final decision being made, whilst it also remains to be seen if legal challenges from players are to be successful if they are pressed forward.

Regardless, though, next season will certainly be an intriguing spectacle for the Hampshire club, who will begin the season in 24th place, although two wins from their opening fixtures would immediately see their deduction wiped out.