Southampton and Eckert also admitted to the EFL disciplinary commission<\/a> that the manager had \u201cspecifically authorised\u201d similarly clandestine operations against two other opponents during the course of the season. The other instances of Southampton\u2019s EFL rule-breaching espionage took place before league matches against Oxford and Ipswich.<\/p>\n William Salt, the 23-year-old intern deployed to spy on Middlesbrough, has reportedly now been offered a permanent job as an analyst in Southampton\u2019s academy but both he and Eckert could still face a range of severe sanctions, potentially including individual 12-month suspensions from all football activity if a precedent set by Fifa is followed.<\/p>\n That was the punishment meted out to the Canada women\u2019s coach, Bev Priestman<\/a>, by Fifa in 2024 after she was found to have been involved in using a drone to spy on New Zealand at the Paris Olympics. Two of Priestman\u2019s staff also received individual one-year football bans.<\/p>\n Eckert\u2019s fate remains unclear but it is understood he was interviewed at length by the FA at the start of this month. The 33-year-old German \u2013 a former Germany national men\u2019s team analyst \u2013 has kept a low profile this summer but is choreographing pre-season training with a Southampton squad that will start their campaign handicapped by a four-point deduction imposed by the EFL as part of their Spygate punishment.<\/p>\n On Saturday evening, Eckert\u2019s team will play their first pre-season friendly at non-league neighbours Eastleigh when Southampton\u2019s manager is likely to come face to face with reporters for the first time this summer.<\/p>\n It had been thought that Southampton were minded to sack Eckert in late May but, instead, the club have resolved to remain firmly behind their evidently talented young manager. Earlier this summer Southampton\u2019s owner, Dragan Solak, said Eckert had made a mistake, apologised for it and now deserved a second chance<\/a>. Yet whether they will have Eckert in the away dugout when his team begins its Championship campaign at Watford on Sunday, 16 August remains in the FA\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n While the EFL lacked the power to punish individuals involved in spying, the written reasons underpinning the decision of their independent disciplinary commission to expel Southampton from the playoff final and deduct four points from them for the coming season were withering in their condemnation of the club and Eckert.<\/p>\n They said Southampton had formed a \u201ccontrived and determined plan from the top down\u201d to obtain illicit information for sporting advantage. The disciplinary panel also took an extremely dim view of Southampton\u2019s deployment of the reluctant Salt, describing the pressure he was placed under by senior figures at the club as \u201cparticularly deplorable\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782311733_174_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n