Southampton manager Tonda Eckert given six-week suspended ban for Spygate scandal

The Southampton head coach, Tonda Eckert, has escaped a ban from the Football Association for his part in the Spygate scandal that led to the club being expelled from last season’s Championship playoff final and denied the chance to win promotion to the Premier League.

The German has been given a six-week suspended ban and £28,000 fine by an independent commission after admitting all charges of misconduct, but the FA could appeal against the sanction after its lawyers demanded a three-month ban from all football.

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Eckert was charged with misconduct in July after Southampton admitted they had spied on three Championship clubs last season in a breach of English Football League regulations, including their playoff semi-final opponents Middlesbrough before the first leg.

Southampton beat Middlesbrough over two legs to reach the final, but were subsequently found guilty of a “contrived and determined plan” to spy on Oxford, Ipswich and Middlesbrough by an EFL independent disciplinary commission, who removed the club from the playoffs and imposed a four-point deduction for this season.

While Southampton appealed against that punishment it was upheld by the league arbitration panel two days before the playoff final at Wembley, where Hull beat Middlesbrough to reach the Premier League.

In their written reasons for imposing a suspended ban the independent commission makes clear they disagreed with many of the findings of the EFL panels, describing Eckert as a “particularly impressive witness” who showed “genuine contrition”.

In contrast the original EFL commission that kicked Southampton out of the playoffs had condemned Eckert’s “deplorable” behaviour in pressuring junior members of staff to spy on their opponent’s training sessions, while they also said they were “unimpressed” with his testimony.

The commission hearing the FA charges concluded there was no evidence of Eckert pressurising staff however, adding that “although there are three rule breaches, we do not consider there was a systematic or organised course of conduct”. With Eckert having admitted three breaches of FA Rule E3.1, most of the hearing, which took place last month, was devoted to determining the sanction.

In their submission to the commission the FA’s lawyers initially argued for a ban from football of “at least nine months”, citing the 12-month ban given to Canada Women’s coach, Bev Priestman, for using drones to spy on New Zealand during the 2024 Olympics, which they reduced to a suggestion of three months allowing for mitigation.

The commission accepted Eckert’s evidence regarding the three incidents in question, namely that he suggested observing Oxford’s training session before a Championship game last December, accepted video footage from an Ipswich session later in the season without commissioning the spying and requested that someone watch Middlesbrough train before the playoff semi-final to determine whether Hayden Hackney was fit to play.

Eckert’s claim that he did not know such acts were a breach of EFL regulations was also accepted by the commission, which concluded that a 16-week ban from football was proportionate before mitigation.

The commission noted what they described as Eckert’s “genuine contrition”, however, including consulting a psychologist to determine how his behaviour could affect other members of staff, and the fact that a lengthy ban would almost certainly cause him to lose his job, which led to their proposed ban being reduced to nine weeks.

A further three-week reduction was applied in recognition of Eckert’s guilty plea before the commission opted to make the six-week ban suspended because of the wider impact such a punishment would have on Southampton as a club and their fans.

In response to the verdict, the Southampton chair, Dragan Solak, gave his backing to Eckert and praised the FA’s handling of the process, but was extremely critical of the EFL. “We have already suffered enough, and we appreciate the panel’s recognition of that,” Solak said. “We are confident the manager has learned from this matter, and a suspended sentence allows him to continue in his role.

“I firmly believe that Tonda is one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches, and with this distraction removed, I am confident he can lead the team to a successful season. I’d like to thank our fans for standing by us and showing the team so much support during a time when we have needed them more than ever.

“The FA process has been a positive experience. Tonda has been given the opportunity to be open and honest with the panel, and the panel has been able to see that he is simply a good person who made poor decisions.

“The same cannot be said for the EFL process, and the way they have subsequently treated us is not something we will forget. However, now is the time to look forward to what I believe will be a great future for our club.”