Southampton players back Eckert despite spygate ban threat and four-point deduction

Southampton’s players have rallied behind head coach Tonda Eckert despite the spygate scandal that saw the club expelled from the Championship play-offs and docked four points ahead of next season.

An insider told The Sun that the majority of the squad remains supportive of the 33-year-old German. “Most of the squad have given Tonda an overwhelmingly positive reaction despite what happened,” the source said. “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.”

Southampton had beaten Middlesbrough over two legs to book a place in the Championship play-off final against Hull City at Wembley before an independent disciplinary panel removed them from the competition. The panel found that Eckert had authorised staff to observe training sessions at Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Oxford, ruling that the club had pursued “a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage.”

The commission was particularly critical of how the operation was carried out, stating: “It involved far more than innocent activity and a particularly deplorable approach in its use of junior members of staff to conduct the clandestine observations at the direction of senior personnel. There was transmission and internal dissemination and analysis of footage and observations.”

Eckert now faces a potential lengthy ban after the FA opened its own separate investigation into the matter. Southampton will also begin next season at the foot of the Championship table following their four-point deduction.

Despite the player support, the club has not yet made a decision on Eckert’s future. Conflicting reports in recent weeks have suggested his position could be untenable, and Southampton’s board is still weighing the full consequences of the expulsion before determining whether he remains in charge.