Dragan Solak could have hidden. He could have issued a carefully worded statement through a PR agency and said as little as possible.
Instead, he sat down with BBC Sport, spoke at length, and said exactly what he thought.
Some of it will divide opinion. All of it needed to be said.
Eckert himself issued a video statement on Tuesday, saying: "For everything that's happened, I do want to apologise. I hold my hand up because as a head coach I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club."
That apology was long overdue. It was also delivered with enough sincerity to carry some weight.
The argument that stops people in their tracks
Solak's most striking moment came near the end of the BBC interview. Asked whether it was fair to call three spying incidents just a mistake, he pushed back.
"It was three times out of 46 games. If he would do it on an industrial level, he would do it on every game. Right?"
That line will infuriate some people. It will resonate with others. It is blunt, it is unconventional and it is exactly the kind of thinking that either marks Solak out as refreshingly direct or dangerously naive depending on where you stand.
But here is the thing. He has a point.
Leeds United spied on 26 opponents in a single season. They paid a £200,000 fine and kept playing. Southampton spied on three, won none of those games and lost a £200 million opportunity. The scale of the response to the scale of the offence does not hold up to scrutiny.
Over-sentenced and not afraid to say it
Solak told the BBC that Eckert had been subjected to a witch hunt in the media and that the club had been over-sentenced, invoking the legal principle of double jeopardy to argue against any further FA punishment.
"Whatever crime you did, you can be sentenced only once," he said. "I think we were over-sentenced. The punishment that the club received was severe and completely disproportionate to the mistake that we made."
That argument is not without merit. Saints Marching has made the same point repeatedly since the verdict landed. The comparison with Leeds, with Chelsea's financial misconduct and with Manchester City's charges makes the proportionality question very hard to dismiss.
Solak added that he had told Eckert directly: if you do not know the EFL rulebook by heart when we meet in July, you cannot work for me.
That is accountability. That is ownership. That is a chairman doing his job properly.
Southampton did something wrong. Their owner has acknowledged it, backed his manager with eyes wide open and challenged the governing body's response in clear and honest language.
Three times out of 46 games. Over-sentenced. Witch hunt. Bold words from a bold owner.
Whether supporters agree or not, at least somebody at Southampton is finally talking.
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