The dressing room has spoken. According to The Sun, the majority of Southampton players who gathered at Staplewood last week backed Tonda Eckert and believe he is the right man to lead the club's promotion push next season.
That is a significant show of support for a manager whose position looked untenable just days ago.
It also changes nothing. Not yet.
The FA investigation into Spygate is ongoing. Individual bans remain firmly on the table. And whatever the players think, whatever the fans want and whatever the board decides, the Football Association may yet make the call for everyone.
A dressing room that chose loyalty
The meeting at Staplewood last week brought players, staff and owner Dragan Solak together for the first time since the failed appeal. Feelings were raw. Anger at the situation was entirely understandable.
But when it came to Eckert himself, the mood shifted. Players recognised what he had done for them. A 21-match unbeaten run. An FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. A squad that genuinely believed it was heading to Wembley.
Saints Marching noted earlier this week that eight out of ten supporters also backed Eckert in a fan poll, with many drawing comparisons to Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds, who survived his own spygate scandal in 2019 and guided the club to promotion the following year.
Players and fans are aligned. That rarely happens at a club in crisis.
The decision nobody can make yet
Eckert has maintained throughout that he did not know observing training sessions broke EFL regulations. In Germany, where he built his career, such practices are commonplace and carry no punishment. That does not excuse what happened. But it does explain it.
Southampton's CEO Phil Parsons has already acknowledged the club broke the rules. The apology has been made. The four-point deduction has been accepted. What remains unknown is what the FA intends to do about the individuals involved.
If Eckert receives a lengthy coaching ban, the question of whether to keep or sack him becomes irrelevant. The decision gets made by default.
Saints Marching pointed out that Bielsa was not banned when Leeds were caught spying in 2019 and went on to achieve promotion the following season. Southampton supporters will be hoping the FA follows a similar path.
But hope is not a strategy. And the uncertainty surrounding Eckert's future makes genuine planning for next season almost impossible right now.
The players want him. The fans want him. The board appears to be leaning that way too.
The only voice that has not yet spoken is the one that matters most at this precise moment.
The FA holds all the cards. Until they show their hand, everything else is just noise.
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