{"id":594183,"date":"2026-05-20T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594183\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:01:08","slug":"southampton-take-drastic-action-on-tonda-eckert-after-spygate-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/594183\/","title":{"rendered":"Southampton take drastic action on Tonda Eckert after spygate scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Southampton have reportedly taken drastic action on manager Tonda Eckert after being expelled from the Championship play-off following the spygate scandal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Middlesbrough have been <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportbible.com\/football\/football-news\/southampton-expelled-championship-play-off-middlesbrough-482277-20260519\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reinstated to the play-off final<\/a> against Hull City after an independent commission heard the EFL\u2019s case after alleged spying by a Southampton staff member prior to the second-leg of the play-off semi-final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">In addition to losing their place in the final, <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportbible.com\/southampton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Southampton<\/a> have been handed a four-point deduction which comes into effect next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The EFL stated: \u201cSouthampton was first charged on Friday 8 May, with further charges issued on Sunday 17 May in relation to additional breaches during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Those additional charges arose from matters identified after the initial proceedings involving Middlesbrough were initiated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Southampton admitted breaches of regulations requiring clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another club&#8217;s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Southampton have lodged an appeal against both sanctions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Now, talkSPORT <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/4271639\/tonda-eckert-southampton-sack-fa-ban-play-off-final\/\">claim<\/a> the scandal could cost manager Tonda Eckert his job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">It\u2019s reported the full report into the alleged events will confirm Eckert admitted full responsibility for spying on his opposition, something that is common practice in his native Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Southampton owner Dragan Solak will be furious with the 33-year-old for bringing the club\u2019s name into disrepute and costing them the chance of the \u00a3200m windfall that comes with winning promotion to the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Furthermore, both Eckert and sporting director Johannes Spors could face investigation and a potential ban from the Football Association for their actions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The report adds Southampton bosses are concerned that the scandal could also impact potential sponsorship deals, with brands not wanting to be associated with a club who have admitted to cheating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Middlesbrough welcomed the verdict delivered by the commission ahead of their showdown at Wembley on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Their statement read: \u201cMiddlesbrough Football Club welcomes the outcome of today\u2019s Disciplinary Commission hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">\u201cAs a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">&#8220;Ticket information for our supporters will be available shortly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The appeal process is expected to be concluded today (Wednesday May 20).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southampton have reportedly taken drastic action on manager Tonda Eckert after being expelled from the Championship play-off following&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[218,59,66274,565,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-594183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-football","tag-gb","tag-middlesbrough","tag-southampton","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}