Southampton manager Dragan Solak says Southampton will press ahead with signing Tonda Eckert despite the manager facing penalty from the FA over the Spygate breach that ruled them out of the play-offs.
Tonda Eckert released an apology video on Tuesday (Image: Southampton FC)
Dragan Solak sat in a chair in what looked like a golf clubhouse and delivered a three-minute monologue that must go down as one of the most thoughtless statements by an owner in recent times. I saw it, so I don’t need to see it.
In his speech, Solak talks about “responsibility” and “trustworthiness.” He also praised the manager who oversaw a cheating program that cost Solak’s club the chance of competing in the Premier League and shattered Southampton’s confidence.
When speaking about Tonda Eckert, he associated words like “remarkable” and “successful” and said he believes Eckert is “the person who will move us forward.” That’s almost unbelievable.
Mr. Solak also mentioned the “final chapter.” How can you close a chapter when the mastermind of the whole unfortunate Spygate scandal is still out there?
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Yes, everyone is entitled to a second chance in life. Everyone makes mistakes. But Eckert’s second chance should come somewhere other than Southampton. For the benefit of all parties.
Eckert himself issued a lasting apology. Remarkably, he attempts to explain his actions by saying that they are normal in other countries.
“We… wanted to know if Middlesbrough would be playing Hayden Hackney and if he would be back in the game,” Eckert said. “We had decided to send someone on Monday to observe the training session and see if he could play in the game.”
Dragan Solak says Tonda Eckert remains Southampton’s forwards manager
How could any soccer manager anywhere in the world think that is perfectly acceptable behavior? Eckert talks about providing “honesty” and “clarity.” Those two things were completely missing from this whole incident.
He said it is common in Italy to observe opponents’ practices. Well, in Italy they’re known for bribing referees, but that doesn’t mean they’re allowed to give referees a ban in English football.
“England has different rules,” Eckert said in an apology statement. “There are different rules than EFL. I should have known that.”
Does Eckert seriously want everyone to believe that he thinks it’s within the rules to secretly film an opponent’s training session from behind a tree? And, incredibly, even if he didn’t know the rules, everyone else at the club did. But the truth is, it’s downright dangerous to be asked to seriously consider the possibility that Mr. Eckert thought his subordinates did nothing wrong.
Tonda Eckert’s conduct is being investigated by the Football Association (Image: Rich Linley – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Again, everyone is entitled to a second chance. And while these crimes were grave and amateurish, they were not so heinous as to be a fatal blow to Eckert’s coaching career.
However, he should have talked to the club’s owners, and the two should have realized that the way to “put the whole situation behind us,” as Solak puts it in his speech, is for those ultimately responsible for the scandal to leave the club. And even if the Football Association completes its investigation and imposes a punishment on Eckert, which it certainly will, it still should be.
Another buzzword for Seolak is “proud.” He wants a club that supporters can be proud of. With the owner on Eckert’s side and Eckert refusing to resign, these two haven’t given Saints fans anything to be proud of.
