Southampton manager Tonda Eckert sits down to address everything about spygate scandal for first time

Tonda Eckert has addressed the Spygate scandal for the first time, two weeks after Southampton were thrown out of the Championship play-offs for spying on opponents Middlesbrough.

Southampton were expelled from the play-offs and docked four points for next season after admitting charges of spying on their rivals.

Ahead of the final at Wembley, the Saints were charged with breaching EFL regulations after Middlesbrough complained that one of their staff members spied on a training session before their semi-final first leg at the Riverside.

After an independent commission heard the EFL’s case, an investigation was opened and Boro were eventually reinstated to the final.

Southampton, who also admitted breaches regarding games against Oxford United and Ipswich Town, appealed against both punishments but an independent League Arbitration Panel denied them re-entry.

It has since emerged that junior members of staff at Southampton told an independent disciplinary commission that manager Tonda Eckert put them "under extreme pressure" to secretly spy on other teams.

Now, Eckert has broken his silence on the scandal in a lengthy sit-down chat that was uploaded on Southampton's social media channels.

Speaking in the video, he said: "When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting line-up that we chosen was always out in the media.

"That was because our training sessions had always been observed by opponent teams we come up against, Guardiola spoke about this from his time at Bayern Munich.

"I don't want to say this to explain it but the way I grew up in football, there's different rules in England and the EFL, I should have known them.

"I am a young coach, I have made a mistake and I take full responsibility. I'd like to thank the board for support in times like this, for everything that I have said, without script and without pretty fine statement, speaking to you from the heart."

He continued: "I hope you have an overview of what has happened and I hope over time you can understand and forgive. I hope to see you soon. I am responsible for everything that happened. I apologise to the players."

A personal message from Head Coach, Tonda Eckert. pic.twitter.com/dHlDdF6XFd

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) June 2, 2026

Tonda Eckert's statement addressing Spygate scandal in full

"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 and I think you deserve that.

"For everything that's happened, I do want to apologise and I hold my hands 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, 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, where we were supposed to play the biggest game of the season.

"I apologise to the players who have done absolutely everything that they can, absolutely everything in the last six months to bring this football club back to where it belongs.

"They would have deserved to play the final, they would have deserved to play the final with you, just like they have done two years ago and just like they have done in the semi-final against Man City.

"40,000 of you travelling to Wembley to support the team, the chance to bring the last six months to an end that the season would have deserved.

"It hurts and it hurts to see the employees of the football club, it hurts to see the staff, it hurts to see the players who have invested so much in the preparation for games, who have invested so much to leave their families at home to recover and to prepare for the games coming up, who it hurts 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.

"I have come to this football club in the summer as an under-21 coach and I have seen from the very first day what this club stands for. I have seen that the club has suffered a lot, especially in the last season, and that it needed a restart for us to grow the connection to the supporters, grow the connection within the community.

"I felt with the chance and with the trust that I have got from November onwards, I have done everything that I could every single minute of my life to bring this connection back to the club, bring the connection back between the team and the supporters and I feel that this connection has grown week by week and month after month.

"Even more so, I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship back up, the season has come to an end. Come to an end that couldn't have left us in a worse place than we are in right now.

"When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting line-up that we have chosen for the games was always out in the media before games and the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed, have always been observed from media and have always been observed from opponent teams that we came up against.

"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.

"I would like to give you context to the incidents that we have been charged with against Oxford.

"We had prepared the game and we had been very consistent in the months of November and December in our starting line-up. When we were preparing the game, we found out that Oxford had changed their manager and while we looked into the way that they had played over previous weeks, we had also seen that the interim manager, in his previous interim positions, had always preferred a different formation.

"So we decided to send someone to have a look at the training session to see if they would switch from a back five to a back four.

"Regarding the Ipswich game, we were informed that Ipswich were training at Eastleigh on the day of the game. When I came into the meeting room two hours before kick-off to prepare my pre-match meeting, I was shown the footage for the first time. I asked for it to be stopped and none of it had any effect on how we played the game on the same evening.

"When I look back at the preparation for the semi-final against Middlesbrough, we met as a coaching staff on Monday and while we prepared for the game, we also wanted to find out if Hayden Hackney would be back fit for the game.

"We made a decision on Monday to send somebody to observe a training session and find out if he would be available for the game or not. We trained on Tuesday and we finished our preparation on Wednesday.

"On Wednesday, we gave the starting line-up to our players and we finished our tactical preparation. We have disclosed our training session and we have disclosed our meeting from Wednesday to show, and this is the bitter irony of the cases, that none of what happened had any effect on the sporting performance.

"I don't want to use this as an excuse but just as much as I promise honesty and clarity, I also want to give you a little bit of context and I think you deserve to have some context to what has happened.

"It has been the players and it has always been the players in every single game who have made the difference. It has been the players who for many months have sacrificed everything in their private life to put this football club back in the Premier League.

"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 and I hope that over time you can understand and forgive, and I hope to see you all soon."