Tonda Eckert faces FA misconduct hearing as Southampton prepare to start Championship at Watford
Tonda Eckert faces an FA misconduct hearing over his role in the Spygate scandal as Southampton prepare to start their Championship campaign at Watford on Sunday.
Eckert was charged with misconduct by the Football Association on 22 July and BBC Sport has been told the FA hearing is likely to be held in mid September; once the result is known, and with the possibility of an appeal to follow, Southampton will already be well into their season. The FA investigation is examining who participated in the spying and assessing the culpability of those who knew it was happening, and BBC Sport also understands that the intern involved, Will Salt, is set to be appointed to a permanent analyst role with the club.
The EFL opened its own investigation into the spying allegations before the play-off semi-finals and charged Southampton with spying on 8 May; eleven days later Southampton were thrown out of the play-offs and given a four-point deduction for this season. Unlike the EFL process, which needed to be resolved to complete the play-offs, the FA process has allowed Southampton more time to submit evidence and, when the club finally present their case, it will be approaching four months after the FA began its investigation. The Championship will pause for three weeks between Monday, 21 September to Tuesday, 6 October for the international break, but whether Southampton will learn the FA outcome by then is unknown.
Saints owner Dragan Solak told BBC Sport in early June that he would not sack Eckert and said the coach was deserving of a second chance. Eckert is only contracted at St Mary's until the end of the current season, and a significant sanction could force the club to look elsewhere for a new head coach. Group technical director Johannes Spors, who has held his position since 2025 and played a key role in handing Eckert the permanent job in December last year, said: "It all depends on what the outcome is as there are so many uncertainties of how this could look like."
Spors added further detail about the club's approach to planning for different scenarios, saying: "There is nothing too concrete at the moment, we're really focused on the here and now and if there is something that we have to deal with then we will deal with it. In the back of my mind and in the office we do speak about different scenarios to be prepared for but I still hope for a positive outcome." During pre-season the club prepared for a number of possibilities; on one friendly Eckert watched the game from the stands and later told the club's media: "Let's hope we don't need it," when asked about managing the game away from the technical area.
Members of the Southampton board have argued the EFL punishment did not fit the offence, a view Parsons echoed at a recent fans' forum before urging the club to move on and revealing that Eckert has now been asked to "focus on football". After initial disappointment in the dressing room, club captain Jack Stephens felt Spygate had brought the group together and midfielder Flynn Downes said the squad have a chip on their shoulder heading into the Championship season. Some supporters chanted "we'll spy when we want" in the Carabao Cup opener against Colchester, while others raised concerns about season ticket price increases; Parsons said the extra cost was being reinvested back into the stadium to increase the fan experience and that he appreciated people's frustrations.
Eckert has said he has been proactive during his time off and has cooperated with the FA's investigation, and described the support he received over the summer: "I've had a lot of support very quickly from the owner, sporting director and the players, but then also over the summer from lots of managers in the game, and that's helped me a lot over the summer." The 33-year-old's only prior work in senior football before the Southampton job came through 15 months as the number two at Barnsley, and three years as assistant boss at Italian club Genoa; he added: "I used the summer to not only go through the 131 rules but also to connect with some managers that have been in the game for much longer than me and managers that have much more experience than myself across national teams and club football. One is for the rules and regulations and the second that is even more important is the culture that's behind that, I've done that through many conversations with English managers, not just in football but other sports too."
After last weekend's 2-0 cup victory away at Colchester, Southampton begin their Championship campaign at Vicarage Road on Sunday against Watford, whose manager is Alessio Dionisi, who Eckert previously came up against during his time at Genoa while Dionisi was at Sassuolo.
