Southampton's Eckert was called an "exceptionally impressive witness" by the FA panel
Eckert had previously admitted to all three breaches of rule E3.1, involving spying on Oxford United, Ipswich Town, and Middlesbrough. The hearing was never about whether he did it but what the consequence would be.
The sentence handed down by the FA hinged entirely on whether the commission believed Eckert when he said it would not happen again.
The outcome itself was a six-week ban suspended until the end of 2027/28, a £28,000 fine and a reprimand, according to the FA. Saints Marching ran the breaking report on the ban before the written reasons appeared.
Eckert's written statement, which @SaintsExtra posted at 4:42pm, denied that he bullied or pressured junior staff into spying. He said he found the allegations extremely upsetting and that he would have listened if anybody had come to him with concerns at the time.
🚨 In his written statement before the FA, #SaintsFC head coach Tonda Eckert denied that he bullied or pressured junior members of staff into spying on opponents.
— SaintsExtra (@SaintsExtra) October 7, 2026
"He said the allegations he has seen 'have been extremely upsetting' and that had anyone raised concerns with him at… pic.twitter.com/3DUmmgfchf
What the earlier findings said about junior staff
That denial is where the FA's verdict might be challenged by the likes of Middlesbrough and Wrexham over the coming weeks. The EFL's commission wrote in May that junior staff were in a vulnerable position with little job security and little room to object, and the club's treatment of them was described as deplorable, according to one account.
Two panels, two jobs. The May one dealt with the club, the pressure on junior staff and the play-off consequences, while this one dealt with a single man and his answer for himself.
So how much should one line from a 48-page document count for? Not a great deal yet. It is a single sentence relayed in a post, and the full reasons were not read for this piece, so the sensible move is to open the PDF before repeating it as the panel's verdict on Eckert's character.
Dragan Solak's statement went further than the panel did, calling Eckert a good person who made poor decisions, and the owner is hardly a neutral reader of the findings.
“The FA process has been a positive experience. Tonda has been given the opportunity to be open and honest with the panel, and the panel has been able to see that he is simply a good person who made poor decisions. The same cannot be said for the EFL process, and the way they have subsequently treated us is not something we will forget. However, now is the time to look forward to what I believe will be a great future for our club.”
Southampton fans waited weeks on a verdict, with the silence running into derby week, as Saints Marching reported in its piece on the wait for a verdict. Eckert is on the touchline against Portsmouth at midday on Sunday 11th October.
The suspended ban switches on only if he is found to have requested, authorised or used information from watching another club train, in any form. The panel rated him this time, and the cleanest way to keep that credit is never to need it again.
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