Tonda Eckert will remain as Southampton manager after a Football Association independent regulatory commission handed him a six-week ban from all football — suspended until the end of next season — for his role in the Spygate scandal. The German has also been fined £28,000 and given a reprimand.
The sanction falls well short of the lengthy suspension that could have cost Eckert his job, and leaves him free to carry on in charge. The FA charged him with misconduct in July and a hearing before the commission has now concluded. He was sanctioned for three breaches of FA Rule E3.1, and the six-week suspension would only be triggered if he is found to be involved in any further spying between now and the end of next season.
The case stems from Southampton’s expulsion from the Championship play-offs in May, after the club admitted spying on training sessions involving Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough before their play-off semi-final. Saints were also handed a four-point deduction for this season. An EFL independent disciplinary commission ruled at the time that the espionage had been authorised by Eckert and was a “contrived and determined plan from the top down”. That commission said the club had employed “a particularly deplorable approach” by using junior members of staff to carry out the spying “at the direction of senior personnel”, while an arbitration panel detailed how a junior analyst intern said he felt under “extreme pressure”.
Eckert apologised in June, claiming he had been unaware the practice was banned and that it had no impact on his team’s performances, but the FA still took action. Southampton argued that they had suffered enough as a result of the scandal. The 33-year-old said: “It’s been a big, big punishment. Absolutely unheard of in the history of sports. I’ve asked for forgiveness for what I’ve done. I’ve apologised publicly.”
The incident that brought the affair to light took place on the morning of Thursday, 7 May, when Middlesbrough were preparing at their Rockliffe Park training base for a game against Southampton 48 hours later. Southampton intern William Salt is said to have parked at a nearby golf club before walking a couple of hundred yards down a road leading to a raised area of ground. Sources said Salt stood pointing his mobile phone at the training session while wearing in-ear headphones, and Middlesbrough staff believed he may have been live-streaming the session via a video call. A member of Middlesbrough’s staff approached him, but the person would not identify himself; he then quickly deleted some content on his phone and ran into the golf club, where he jogged into the toilets, changed his clothes and hurriedly left the site. Middlesbrough’s photographer took photographs and matched him to a picture on Southampton’s website, one of which was subsequently made public.
Middlesbrough reported the incident to the EFL, which charged Southampton with breaking two regulations: regulation 3.4, requiring clubs to act towards each other with the utmost good faith, and regulation 127, prohibiting any club from observing, or attempting to observe, another club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match between the two clubs. During the investigation, further details emerged about the club watching training sessions involving Oxford and Ipswich, in addition to filming Middlesbrough as they prepared for the first leg of their play-off semi-final. Southampton did not win any of the three matches — they lost 2-1 at Oxford, drew 2-2 at home to Ipswich and drew 0-0 at Middlesbrough.
Salt has since been appointed to a permanent role in Southampton’s academy. Chief executive Phil Parsons said: “When your photo is put out to the public, that is something tough to deal with. A lot of people probably underestimated how that could have impacted a young lad so we’ve got a job to make sure that he’s looked after in his early career. But he’s a talented boy as well. I get good feedback and he’s got a good role at the club.”
The FA’s handling of the case contrasts with an earlier spying episode in English football. The FA did not charge Marcelo Bielsa, then Leeds United’s manager, after the club were found guilty of spying on Derby in 2019, issuing a formal warning instead, while the EFL fined Leeds £200,000 — which Bielsa said he paid — and introduced a rule prohibiting any club from observing a rival’s training session within 72 hours of a match between them. The most recent precedent came at the 2024 Olympics women’s tournament, when Fifa banned Canada’s head coach Bev Priestman from all football for a year after opponents New Zealand were spied on.
Eckert was appointed Southampton’s permanent manager in December 2025 after taking interim charge with the club 21st in the Championship, and they finished the season in fourth place. Saints, who face local rivals Portsmouth this weekend, are 13th in the Championship this season with four wins from their eight matches so far.