Southampton Head Coach, Tonda Eckert has admitted that the Saints’ Play-Off expulsion “hurts” for everyone at the club.
Southampton were expelled from the Championship Play-Off Final on 19 May after they were found guilty of breaching EFL Regulations 3.4 and 127 after analyst, William Salt was caught spying on Middlesbrough’s training session on 7 May – less than 72 hours before the pair played out a goalless semi-final first leg.
Further charges were brought under both regulations after it emerged that Oxford United and Ipswich had too been spied on during the season, although the Saints lost 2-1 at Oxford United in December 2025 then drew 2-2 at home to Ipswich in April following the respective incidents.
The Saints subsequently won the second leg prior to expulsion which saw Middlesbrough reinstated only to lose to Hull City in the Play-Off Final, only after an appeal by Southampton failed nearly 27 hours after the original verdict and punishment were handed down.
After a period of silence, Eckert finally addressed the scandal on Southampton’s YouTube Channel in a personal message addressed directly to supporters, in which he took responsibility for his part in events and the impact it has had throughout the club.
“For everything that has happened, I do want to apologise. And I hold my hand up because as a Head Coach I am responsible, I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club. I am responsible for everything that has happened in my coaching staff.
“I do apologise to the supporters, to everyone who has travelled with us, who has supported us over so many games. To the ones who have shared emotions game by game who have managed to bring us all the way up to this very end of the season. Where we were supposed to play the biggest game of the season.
“I apologise to the players who have done absolutely everything that they can, absolutely everything in the last six months to bring this football club back to where it belongs. They would have deserved to play the final, they would have deserved to play the final with you. Just like they’ve done two years ago.”
“And just like they’ve done in the semi-final against Manchester City. 40,000 of you travelling to Wembley to support the team. The chance to bring the last six months to an end that the season would of deserved.
“It hurts and it hurts to see the employees of the football club, it hurts to see the staff, it hurts to see the players who have invested so much in the preparation for games, who have invested so much to leave their families at home to recover and to prepare for the games coming up.
“Who it hurts so much to see their pain on the day the decision came in because it has such a big impact not just on them and their career but also on their families. I apologise to all of the clubs that have been involved and mostly I apologise to our supporters.
Eckert proceeded to acknowledge that he had spent his tenure rebuilding trust between club and fans after a poor start to the season under Will Still left the Saints battling relegation, only for the scandal to ruin that renewed bond.
“Even more so I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship 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.”
The 33 year-old manager proceeded to provide context on “the way that “I grew up in the football world”, as he argued that training sessions during his time at Italy’s Genoa had “always been observed” by oppositional teams alongside media.
He added that spying was a “common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.”
Eckert however admitted that England and EFL hold “different rules” which he “should have known” about, as he proceeded to explain the contexts of the incidents that the club were charged with.
“Against Oxford, we have prepared the game and we have been very consistent in the months of November and December in our starting line-up. When we were preparing the game, we found out that Oxford have changed their manager. And while we looked into the way they have played over previous weeks, we’ve also seen that the interim manager has always in his previous interim stations has always preferred a different formation, so we have decided to send someone to have a look at the training session to see if they would switch from a back five to a back four.
“Regarding the Ipswich game, we were informed that Ipswich were training at Eastleigh on the day of the game. When I came into the meeting room two hours before kick-off to prepare my pre-match meeting, I was shown the footage for the first time.
“I’ve asked for it to be stopped, and none of it had any effect on how we played the game on the same evening.
“When I look back at the preparation for the semi-final against Middlesbrough, we have met as coaching staff on Monday [4 May] and while we prepared for the game, we also wanted to find out if Middlesbrough would play with Hayden Hackney and if he would be back fit for the game, and we have made a decision on Monday to send somebody to observe a training session and find out if he would be available for the game or not.
“We have trained on Tuesday and we have finished our preparation on Wednesday. And on Wednesday we have given the starting line-up to our players and we have finished our tactical preparation.
“We have disclosed our training session and we have disclosed our meeting from Wednesday to show, and this is the bitter irony of the cases that none of what has happened had any affect on the sporting performance.”
Eckert eventually admitted that the contexts shouldn’t be used to justify his coaching staff’s behaviour as he explained his wish of what he hoped supporters would gain from his explanation, in which he spoke of the need for contextualisation and praised players for their efforts.
“I don’t want to use this as an excuse but just as much as I promise honesty and clarity, I also want to give you a little bit of context. And I think you deserve to have some context to what has happened.
“It has been the players and it has always been the players in every single game who have made the difference., it has been the players who for many months have sacrificed everything in their private life to put this football club back to the Premier League.”
Eckert too reflected on his inexperience as he thanked owner and chairman, Dragan Solak plus the board for standing by him.
“I am a young coach. I have made a mistake and I take full responsibility. I want to thank Dragan and the board for the support, especially in times like this. With everything that I have said without script and without pre-defined statement.
“Speaking to you from the heart I hope that you have an overview of what has happened over the last weeks and I hope that over time you can understand and forgive.”
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