Tonda Eckert has hit another milestone as Southampton boss after Wrexham victory

Southampton have had their fair share of misfires in the manager department over recent years.

Indeed, Ruben Selles would only win one game in charge when he was shoved into the deep end of Premier League management in 2023.

Ivan Juric didn't fare much better, either, as the Croat sent Southampton down with a whimper last season, with a miserable record of two wins from 16 games on the South Coast; Simon Rusk didn't win any in his brief interim spell!

Will Still continued this ongoing trend of poor managerial appointments at the start of this campaign, having only picked up two Championship wins, but thankfully, the Belgian's short-lived reign feels like a lifetime ago now, with Tonda Eckert proudly at the helm.

Eckert is far from a poor appointment

Instead, to buck this recent trend, Eckert has gone down as an inspired appointment, with Southampton's ascent up the Championship - since he was permanently appointed in December - one of the best feel-good narratives in the entire division.

With a sturdy 16 league wins under his belt, from 27 Championship games - which is more wins than Selles, Juric and Still managed combined - Eckert has turned Southampton from potential two-time relegation candidates, into playoff hopefuls.

The 5-1 win over Wrexham last time out just proved how far Southampton have come in such a short space of time, as Phil Parkinson's men fell out of the playoff picture, to allow the Saints a spot inside the coveted top six.

Having not lost now across their last 13 league games, the South Coast giants will be a lot of people's bets at the moment as to who will reign supreme in the playoffs, and win promotion.

Eckert just keeps churning out the victories from the St. Mary's dug-out, with the form table over the last ten games, seeing Southampton sit at the very top of the division, even ahead of Frank Lampard's unstoppable Coventry City.

Amazingly, though, a new milestone was hit after the dust had settled on the convincing win at the Racecourse Ground, which hadn't previously been obtained by the self-assured German.

The new milestone hit by Eckert

Staggeringly, the 5-1 win at Wrexham is the first time Eckert has tasted five wins on the spin since taking charge, despite Southampton's lenghty unbeaten runs under the 33-year-old.

He is the first manager to lead the Saints to five wins on the bounce, in all competitions, since November 2014, when the South Coast side boasted the likes of Jose Fonte and Graziano Pelle, among their star-studded first team options.

Ronald Koeman was the manager who previously held this feat, with the Dutchman going on to manage the likes of the Netherlands and Barcelona, after calling the South Coast his home.

Now, there is a new batch of heroes at Eckert's disposal, as Finn Azaz collected his stunning 11th Championship goal of the season, when getting the better of Wrexham in the exhilarating away day win in Wales.

The much-loved German will be praying that the victories just keep flowing, as Southampton still has an outside chance of the automatic promotion spaces, if they remain flawless.