The Spygate scandal has taken another twist after Southampton released a statement acknowledging that they had been charged by the FA, before swiftly deleting it.
The Saints were expelled from the Championship play-off final back in May after admitting they had spied on rival teams during the 2025-26 season.
That came after a club analyst was spotted filming Middlesbrough’s training session ahead of Southampton’s play-off semi-final against Boro, triggering a major crisis at the south coast club.
Southampton won that tie 2-1 on aggregate but an independent commission subsequently expelled them from the final and also handed them a four-point deduction for the coming season.
The independent commission found that there was a ‘contrived and determined plan from the top down’ to embark on a spying operation, with boss Tonda Eckert coming under particular scrutiny.
The FA subsequently launched their own investigation into the saga, with potential ramifications including bans for those involved, most notably boss Eckert and the intern analyst William Salt.
Southampton released a statement acknowledging that the club and boss Tonda Eckert had been charged by the FA after the spygate scandal, before swiftly deleting it
The outcome of that probe is still to be announced, yet on Wednesday morning Southampton released a club statement at around 10am.
It read: ‘Southampton Football Club and First Team Head Coach Tonda Eckert acknowledge today’s charges from The FA relating to a breach of Rule E3.1.
‘Tonda and the club will continue to cooperate fully and openly with The FA. Our focus remains on preparations for the 2026-27 Championship season.
‘The club remains fully supportive of Tonda and his staff as we work towards our ambition of returning to the Premier League.
‘We are unable to comment further while the process remains ongoing, but we will provide an update to supporters as soon as we are in a position to do so.’
However, within minutes, the club statement was deleted, suggesting it was posted in error, creating confusion for Southampton fans and leaving them in the dark.
Local media subsequently reported that a statement from the club and FA is currently expected to be released on Thursday instead.
Eckert and Southampton came under significant scrutiny surrounding the whole incident and there were heavily criticised for their poor communication and lack of accountability when the news broke.
Things later intensified when the written reasons for the punishment were released, with several damning revleations about the involvement of Eckert in the spying operation.
Leaked WhatsApp messages revealed the German showing his ‘love’ of the cheating, with one revealing how Salt was told, ‘You legend. Manager loved it’ after a spying mission on Oxford United in December.
Southampton’s attempts to cover up their cheating after Daily Mail Sport broke the story of Salt being caught recording Middlesbrough’s training session from behind a trees were similarly eye-watering.
Despite the pressure, Saints owner Dragan Solak opted to stick with Eckert rather than sack him, with the German coach addressing fans in a video statement in June.
Eckert, speaking in full for the first time since the ruling, hardly blinked in the lengthy video, saying: ‘Hi, Saints supporters. 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.’
In the clip entitled: ‘A personal message from Tonda Eckert’, he went on: ‘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.’
He added: ‘They would have deserved to play the final with you, just like they’ve done two years ago, and just like they’ve done in the semi-final against Man City.
‘It hurts to see the employees of the club, it hurts to see the staff, it hurts to see the players who have invested so much in the preparation for games.
‘Those who have invested so much to leave their families at home to recover and to prepare for the games coming up, who had hurt so much.
‘To see their pain on the day the decision came in, because it has such a big impact, not just on them and their career, but also on their families. I apologise to all of the clubs that have been involved, and mostly I apologise to our supporters.’
Eckert then went on to ‘give context’ to the spying, arguing that his experiences in different leagues have coloured his thinking.
He explained: ‘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.
‘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 later added: ‘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.’
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