Will Tonda Eckert go down as another promotion-winning manager at Southampton?
Russell Martin guided the Saints to promotion up to the Premier League in 2024, while Nigel Adkins would steer the Southampton ship to the promised land, as well, in 2012, as the South Coast outfit went from League One obscurity to the Premier League in just two whirlwind seasons.
Eckert will be dreaming of adding his name to this exclusive list, as his Saints side prepare to do battle with Hull City on May 22nd, with Southampton's ridiculous run to get to the playoffs fitting of a team that goes on to pull off promotion at Wembley.
Southampton's unbeaten run deserves promotion at the end of it
Unfortunately, Eckert and Co's reputation as a feel-good story in the Championship has taken quite the beating in recent times, owing to the Spygate scandal surfacing, as a Saints analyst was alleged to have spied on Middlesbrough training.
Before this breaking development emerged, however, the South Coast side would be constantly praised for their easy-on-the-eye approach, as Eckert stood out as an extremely promising head coach.
The German would spearhead a crazy 19-game unbeaten run to push his struggling mid-table outfit into the playoff picture, with Southampton looking near faultless at points, as they humbled Wrexham 5-1 in one standout result in early April.
Ultimately, this is a streak of positive results that warrants promotion at the end of it all, with a hope that Eckert and Co. don't run out of steam at the worst possible time, when making the trip to Wembley to face Hull.
Beating the Tigers at Wembley really would be a full circle moment for the promotion chasers, when you look deeper into their form before this run of results became possible...
Why beating Hull would be a full circle moment
While Southampton have looked near on unbeatable in recent matches, the start of Eckert's reign wasn't the smoothest ride.
After winning his first two matches in charge as an instantly likeable replacement for Will Still, the German then had to endure a winless run of seven straight matches in the Championship.
Amazingly, the last time they actually lost in the second tier, before going on this lengthy 19-game unbeaten streak, was at the hands of Hull in January, as a first-half sucker punch of goals from Kyle Joseph and Charlie Hughes saw the visitors win 2-1.
Sergej Jakirovic's men, despite this memorable win, had to wait until the final day of the regular season to clinch a playoff spot, and the Tigers will be hoping they can be a bogey opponent for Eckert's team again at Wembley.
Already, Hull have taken down Millwall in the playoffs, who many would've expected to reach the final, so they will see Southampton as their next enemy to get the better of.
Eckert and Co. will have other ideas, with their constant ability to hold their nerve when the pressure has been ramped up - ever since this slim Hull defeat - standing them in good stead to return to the Premier League at the close of the tense showdown later this month.
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