A highly respected and experienced football journalist was made to feel extremely uncomfortable by Southampton, a week or so back, when he posed the difficult and essential question which needed putting to the club’s manager Tonda Eckert: ‘Are you a cheat?’
Eckert promptly terminated his press conference and flounced out of the room in a hissy fit, leaving one of his press team to deliver a nasty little coda to the Northern Echo’s Dominic Shaw. ‘Show some respect. That’s all we ask. Well done.’
The moment reflected a club drowning in victimhood, with Shaw as one of the perceived enemies at the gates.
But the full extent of Eckert’s breathtaking hypocrisy became clear on Monday, as the League Arbitration Panel’s full written reasons for expelling Southampton from the Championship play-off final revealed precisely what their thin-skinned manager knew.
Respect? That appears to be a commodity beyond the remotest comprehension of Eckert, who was so insistent on a spy being despatched to deliver him intelligence on Middlesbrough that he even complained when the appointed individual, William Salt, had to be flown up on the morning of an opposition training session, rather than in place for further subterfuge the day before.
Tonda Eckert has been exposed as the mastermind behind Southampton’s spying, and any claims that he did not see any of the illegally gained material have been disproven
Southampton intern William Salt repeatedly voiced his concerns about the spying but felt he had no choice due to his junior role. He was then caught by Middlesbrough staff
As if the flagrant breach of EFL rules were not bad enough, the panel’s 39-page report exposes Southampton’s deeply unattractive disregard of junior analyst interns, like Salt, who were pressurised, against their wishes, to do the coach’s dirty work.
They were the grunts at the bottom of the pile, coveting a career in football, yet fearing for their jobs because Saints – whose parachute payments for last season totalled £49million – had laid off a junior analyst intern earlier in the season.
‘I didn’t really have an option and wasn’t provided an opportunity to say “no”’, the panel was told by Salt, who was sent to spy on Oxford United for two days, to see if the club’s change of manager signified a change of playing style.
Another analyst was reluctant to spy on Ipswich training at Eastleigh FC’s ground and when his prior commitment to a UEFA coaching course helped him dodge that bullet, a Southampton academy analyst was sent instead. Saints even kitted this spy out in an Eastleigh kit. His previous work for the non-League club allowed him to pretend to be working for them.
Eckert’s fingerprints are all over this dismal flurry of activity, in which all the coaches seem desperate to please the boss and the young staff members are tasked to deliver. Salt, who was despatched ‘urgently’ to Oxford, sent photographs and videos of training as it was actually happening and after more spying on a second day’s training, a phone call ensued with Eckert and a more senior analyst.
‘You legend. Manager loved it,’ Salt was told in a WhatsApp message, though Eckert was evidently not so satisfied after Saints still lost 2-1 at Oxford. A WhatsApp message Salt sent after Middlesbrough had rumbled him reveals that Saints told him they wanted more out of Boro’s training ground than he’d ‘got from Oxford’, where he was ultimately perceived to have ‘got it wrong.’
Salt observed: ‘They clearly don’t think my word is good enough so wallop – there’s your footage.’
Southampton captain Taylor Harwood-Bellis was mocked at Wembley by Boro fans after he had taunted their players with a binoculars celebration during the play-off semi-final
Eckert walked out of his post-match press conference following the match at Middlesbrough after being questioned about Spygate
Middlesbrough’s greater training-ground security was seen as a risk by Southampton, so it was initially suggested that Salt simply report back that ‘security there was too tight to make any observations’ and Eckert ‘would be none the wiser’. But the system of cheating was so endemic that Southampton’s operations manager booked the flights and hotel rooms and Salt headed off to find the ideal spying spot, based on drone footage the club had run through with him.
He was clearly in a state of panic after four Middlesbrough staff chased after him and questioned him – escaping to a nearby golf club, deleting his LinkedIn profile and calling in to his bosses from the hotel.
The panel’s written findings related that Salt, who had provided a predicted Boro line-up and details of how they pressed, was told to ‘wait there until Mr Eckert agreed he should return to Southampton’. But there was no call conveying instructions from ‘Mr Eckert’, so 23-year-old Salt left of his own accord.
The systematic pattern of Southampton subterfuge which panel witnesses described ensuing after Boro caught Saints red-handed traduces the very reputation of our football.
The club’s media team was asked to take down or hide manager of the month pictures online, because Salt featured in the background. The club’s chief executive said in a statement that Boro’s allegations did not conform with ‘the club culture’, that no relevant ‘documents or data’ had been captured and that Eckert had not sanctioned any cheating.
None of this was true, as Parson admitted in another statement, a mere four days later, in which he apologised for the ‘inaccuracies’ in the first.
Given all that we now know, it is beyond belief that Eckert is anywhere near Southampton – a club whose once-proud name he has dragged down into the mud. If the man had an iota of class, he would have resigned by now, in the light of testimony which reveals that he and Saints have treated vulnerable young staff despicably.
If the man had an iota of class, Eckert would have resigned by now – and issued a public apology to Salt
He would have issued a public apology to Salt, a young employee whose career in football is probably over. He would have taken personal responsibility for Southampton now having to rebuild their tattered reputation from the ground up.
Presumably, the 33-year-old German is hoping that the close season will see his disgraceful behaviour all blow over at a club who are evidently too pathetic to sack him.
It may take the FA’s subsequent investigation to drive this risible individual from British football’s door.
Given that Southampton’s response to the three-person panel’s findings last night included a barely believable dig at the fact that one of its members, footballer-turned-solicitor David Winnie, played a solitary match for Boro 33 years ago, it would appear that the club are as deluded as their manager – wrapped up in their own ignorance and lacking the remotest sense of how deeply unattractive they look.
