A week has passed since Southampton were thrown out of the Championship play-offs. Tonda Eckert is still in his job.
That tells you something. Nobody is quite sure what.
The club's senior decision-makers have not moved quickly on this. Some believe the sanctions handed down were too harsh. Others are weighing up the evidence that Eckert is genuinely a very good football manager against the damage his actions have done to the club's name.
Neither argument is wrong. But the longer this drags on, the worse it looks. It's difficult for the English footballing world to accept Eckert's argument that there are cultural differences in German football.
A club caught between logic and morality
The numbers back Eckert up in many ways. His last Championship defeat was 21 games ago. He guided Southampton to an FA Cup semi-final, losing only to eventual winners Manchester City. He took a team and made it believe in itself again.
That is real. That counts for something.
But here is the problem. Eckert stood in front of a disciplinary panel and admitted he authorised the spying missions. He sent an intern, a young person with no job security, to film opposition training sessions. That intern told the panel he felt pressured to break the rules.
Southampton cannot brush that aside just because the football was good.
Keeping Eckert sends a message to every player, every member of staff and every supporter. It says results matter more than how you get them. For a club already fighting to win back the trust of its fanbase, that is a deeply risky position to take.
The FA may decide for the club
Owner Dragan Solak visited Staplewood on Thursday. Conversations are happening. But Southampton appear in no rush to make a call, with the season finished and the focus shifting to next year.
The trouble is the FA are not standing still.
Their investigation, which opened six days ago, carries the power to issue individual bans. If Eckert is handed a touchline ban of any significant length, the decision gets made for Southampton whether they like it or not.
Technical director Johannes Spors was not directly implicated in the original hearing, but he runs the football department. Questions about his position have not gone away either.
The players are angry. Some are seeking legal advice. Their feelings about Eckert are mixed, with recognition of his talent sitting alongside real frustration at being put in this position. That dressing room dynamic matters enormously going into a season that starts with a four-point deficit.
Southampton believe they are not in a rush. The FA may have other ideas.
Every day Eckert stays without a clear decision being made adds to the sense that the club is drifting. Fans are watching. Players are watching. Other clubs are watching.
The FA investigation may ultimately spare Southampton the difficulty of making this call themselves.
If they do not, Southampton will have to make it on their own. And the moral case for keeping Eckert gets harder to make with every day that passes.
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