Tonda Eckert has finally made a clear public statement admitting his role in the spygate scandal that led to Southampton’s expulsion from the Championship play-offs.
Southampton admitted charges of spying and were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season, before the incident at Middlesbrough last month when a young analyst was caught videoing Boro’s training session ahead of their play-off semi-final.
As well as losing their place in the final, Southampton were deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
On Tuesday, Southampton owner Dragan Solak said Eckert will not be sacked by the club. “In Italy or in Germany, where Tonda was working, this is basically common practice that nobody cares about,” Solak explained.
Eckert, 33, has kept quiet during the scandal, refusing to answer media questions and walking out of a press conference when asked if he was “a cheat”.
Now, after the EFL’s independent commission confirmed the manager was at the heart of the controversy, Eckert has spoken out in a message posted on Southampton’s social media.
open image in gallery“Hi, Saints supporters,” he began. “What I’m going to say is not going to be perfect, but I will try to be as honest and clear as I can be. I think you deserve that.
“For everything that’s 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.
“We were supposed to play the biggest game of the season. I apologise to the players, who have done absolutely everything that they can. They have done absolutely everything in the last six months to bring this club back to where it belongs. They would have deserved to play the final.”
In the eight-minute video, Eckert also apologised to “all of the clubs involved”.
He pointed to the different culture of football in Europe, where spying on opponents is more commonplace and there are few rules to prevent it.
“When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting line-up that we’ve chosen for the games was always out in the media before games,” Eckert said.
“The reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed by the media and have always been observed by opponent teams that we came up against. [Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this at his time at Bayern Munich, that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions, knowing that other teams would do the same.
“I don’t want to say this to excuse anything that we have done. I just want to give you context in the way that I grew up in the football world. There are different rules in England. There are different rules from the EFL. And I should have known them.”
He also sought to give more clarity on exactly when and why the club spied on opponents.
“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 that they have played over previous weeks, we’ve also seen that the interim manager has always, in his previous interim stations, preferred a different formation. 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.
open image in gallery“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 kickoff to prepare my pre-match meeting, I was shown the footage for the first time. I asked 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 had met as a coaching staff on Monday. 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. We had decided on Monday to send somebody to observe a training session and find out if he would be available for the game or not.”
Eckert insisted Southampton made no material benefit from the case.
“None of what has happened had any effect on the sporting performance. 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.”
He finished by asking for forgiveness. “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 a predefined statement. Speaking to you from the heart, I hope that you have an overview of what has happened over the last weeks.
“I hope that over time you can understand and forgive, and I hope to see you all soon.”
The Football Association is now investigating Eckert’s conduct and whether or not to bring separate charges against the manager for bringing the game into disrepute.