Tonda Eckert won't let all the outside noise get to him in the Southampton hot seat, as his Saints side make the mammoth journey to Middlesbrough on Saturday lunchtime.
The South Coast outfit should be travelling to Teesside to kick off their Championship playoff campaign full to the brim with excitement, having beat Preston North End on the final day of the season 3-1, to keep their 19-game unbeaten run in tact.
Instead, the excitement of the first leg trip has been shrouded in talk of the Saints spying on Boro training, to try and gain a sneaky edge, but Eckert has proven throughout the season that has just gone, that he can steer Southampton to a result, when the eyes are on the South Coast side to fail.
Eckert won't be fazed by the outside noise
Indeed, the German has become an expert of being able to cope under pressure.
In the build-up to their game with Wrexham, all the pre-match chatter focused on the rise of the Red Dragons, and not on the unbelievable machine Eckert had created at St. Mary's.
Phil Parkinson's men were then stunned by the sheer firepower of their South Coast visitors, as a 5-1 win was triumphantly secured, when many expected Wrexham to reign supreme. Could Southampton pull off an equally jaw-dropping win when making the long-haul journey to Boro, to silence those bad-mouthing their spying tactics?
A 2-1 win secured away at Coventry City in the middle of March also showed off the Saints' mental resolve, when the pressure is ramped up, as Eckert and Co. pulled off a determined win, against the runaway league leaders.
All of this stands Southampton in good stead to upset the apple cart at the Riverside on Saturday, but Eckert is ready for any outcome that falls into his side's lap in the playoffs, when speaking to the media pre-match.
Eckert is ready for any possibility
Before this training bombshell dropped, Southampton would've been every neutral's pick to secure promotion, as the South Coast side had become the entertainers of the division.
Now, there is a slight bad taste in the mouth when it comes to the ex-Premier League side, and it will be interesting to see how gung-ho Boro go for a win, with the backdrop of the training scandal still fresh.
Eckert was calm when discussing the first leg clash with the Daily Echo, as he is "convinced" that the Saints will be in a great position ahead of next season, regardless of what league they call home.
He said, when discussing every possibility that could occur come the end of the frantic playoff campaign: "I'm very sure and convinced that Johannes and his team are doing an excellent job to prepare for next season, wherever that is going to be."
Saints' sporting director Johannes Spors will be working overtime ahead of next season, with it already being noted that Southampton have sent scouts out to Portugal, with a list of transfer targets being written up.
The targets they can realistically acquire will hinge on what division they reside in next season, but with Eckert already looking ahead to the future, this will be encouraging that the German will stay loyal to St. Mary's, amid talk he's being looked at by Stuttgart.
A bumper off-season is in store no matter what occurs, with the hope that Southampton can return to the Premier League, at the first time of asking.
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