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Southampton owner explains why he WON’T be sacking Tonda Eckert over Spygate

Southampton owner Dragan Solak explains why he WON’T be sacking head coach Tonda Eckert over the Spygate situation.

Solak spoke in an interview with BBC Sport‘s Dan Roan, saying he gives his full support to Tonda Eckert and that he deserves a second chance.

It comes despite being removed from the Championship playoff final and handed a 4 point deduction for the 2026/27 season after Eckert accepted responsibility to spying on clubs.

Dragan said Eckert was surprised and didn’t realise it was rule he was breaking. He added that ‘In Italy or in Germany, where Tonda was working, this is basically common practice that nobody cares about.”

Dragan has also warned Eckert. “I told him: ‘You almost broke my heart. You do it again, you’ll kill me. The next time I see you in July, if you don’t know the EFL book of rules by heart, you can’t work for me. Because, we can’t have another mistake. I truly hope that he will learn from this experience and he will achieve an incredible career.”

Dragan Solak said: “I’m looking at him as a young, extremely talented manager. The guy who took our club when we were 21st on the table and he brought us almost to direct promotion and we have to look into the future. I think he deserves the second chance and I would give it to him. My full support would be behind him actually because I think he’s a super talented manager. I truly hope that he will learn from this experience and he will achieve incredible career in his life.

Dan Roan: “The FA are obviously looking at this incident and may well charge Tonda and others perhaps and they may ban him. Does your support of him depend on the outcome of that FA inquiry?”

Dragan Solak: “I can support him even if he’s banned because you know but I can’t make him manage his band so my support comes from a very simple legal, if you want, situation, where, you know, there is no double jeopardy.”

Dan Roan: “But to be clear, if he is not banned, he will stay as your head coach?”

Dragan Solak: “If this is my decision only, absolutely 100%. In my personal opinion and opinion of the board is that he is the manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us.”

Dan Roan: “I think many will be very surprised that you’re backing Mr. Eckert. Because they’ll look at the pressure that was applied on junior members of staff. You call it a mistake, but this was a series of actions.”

Dragan Solak: “No, but it was three times out of 46 games. Then, I mean, if he would do it, if he would do it on an industrial level, he would do it on every game.”

Dan Roan: “You’re OK that no one will lose their jobs over this extraordinary scandal?”

Dragan Solak: “We lost our chance to win £200 million. You know, I’m just saying we are paying this price together as a group. You know, and then we decide among us, if they’re better, there is one guy who should also take the pain. But that’s for us to decide. If they wanted to ban or punish or do whatever to tone that they could have done it and let us play the game. But they wanted us to suffer as a club. And if you basically put on suffering the whole football club and all hundreds of thousands of our fans. What else do want from us? Let us deal with our internal stuff. I think the punishment that the club received was severe and completely disproportionate to the mistake that we made.”

Dan Roan: “How do you feel about that culture that seems to have existed at your club? Is it one that embarrasses you?”

Dragan Solak: “No, it’s unacceptable. I mean, we made the mistake for sure, but you know, I don’t see really this culture when somebody is really making junior staff in a hard way doing something they don’t want. I believe that our junior intern felt personally it’s wrong and he didn’t feel right for doing this. And I think he should have expressed that stronger. I’m pretty sure that if that would come to us, to the top management, actually it would be the seniors who would be punished, not him, or basically doing this type of, if you want, bullying. But I didn’t think it was actually that. I think it was a huge amount of misunderstanding and a huge amount of ignorance and arrogance. And I think all of this is wrong, but we will actually make an effort for people to understand that whoever orders them to do something, that is putting them out of their comfort zone, they have every right to refuse.”

Dan Roan: “Dragan, I must have asked you about the commission saying that there was an initial misleading response.”

Dragan Solak: “We were requested by EFL to respond in 12 hours. Obviously, it was 12 hours in basically ahead of a huge game, but everybody’s traveling, everybody’s doing something. So the people who made the response had the limited time try to get the truth. And that’s why I think their response was imperfect.”

As well as giving an interview with BBC Sport, a video has also emerged through the club’s social media of Gragan speaking to the fans…

Gragan said: “Hello Saints, I want to take this opportunity to address the Southampton fan base directly. I want to say sorry. I am sorry for how this season has ended. I am at the head of the football club and I must take responsibility for everything that happens here, good and bad. It’s important to apologise for how we handled the matters in the early stages of the process. We have to be better. Once again mistakes have been made and we will learn from them.

“Let me take this opportunity to also reaffirm how committed I am to bringing success to St. Mary’s. The price we have to pay for our mistakes feels disproportionate, but we accept it. I like to address the EFL decision one final time before we close this chapter. We accept that mistakes have been made at the club level. Rules have been broken. There must be a consequence, and I’ll take responsibility for that.

“But I also believe the sanction imposed is grossly disproportionate. The level of breach combined with the outcome of previous cases makes this feel incredibly harsh. His defence as well as the players who suffered the most, many of whom had already made arrangements for Wembley once the semi-finals had been gone ahead. I also believe that the competition itself loses credibility.

“Suggesting that decisions made off the pitch can see results on the field simply wiped out? This cannot be good for the game. As I have said, I want to close this chapter and look ahead. And I want to look ahead together as one, including Tonda and his staff. Tonda as our head coach has been a success so far. Our form during 2026 has been remarkable. And we believe he is the man to take us forward. As a board, we are fully behind him.

“And together we only have one objective. We want promotion back to Premier League. I also like to thank Johannes and Phil for their efforts during the difficult time. We all together will continue to work hard this summer to give you a team you can be proud of and a club that is growing every year. A huge thank you is also sent to the hardworking staff and St. Mary’s and Staplewood for their dedication throughout the season.

“My final and most important thank you is to you, our supporters. You are the heartbeat of the club and our future success can only happen with you behind us. We will work with FA in coming weeks to make everything right and to put this whole situation behind us so we can focus on building the club and the team and the unity and the community of Saints that everybody can only be proud of.

“I promise you that we’ll bring at the end of the summer, the team that will take you out of your seats and excitement will run high against St. Mary’s. Enjoy your summer. Let’s come back united as one in July.”

Southampton issue statement as Spygate WhatsApps are revealed in new written reasons report

Here’s the social media reaction as the Southampton owner explains why he WON’T be sacking Tonda Eckert over Spygate…

@Jon__bon: Excellent response from Dragan. Clear and explained well. Seems like the over friendly attitude at the club is changing, that cutting edge will serve us well. #saintsfc

@L1minus10: At least it’s someone prepared to show some leadership and justify decisions. I don’t agree with keeping him but I do agree with the part about us being punished enough and we should be able to sort out our own internal stuff. I wonder if FA ban now more or less likely #saintsfc

@CS_Wipeout: Well at least Dragan has come out spoken about the incident. I expect there have been plenty of conversations behind the scenes prior to this interview with all involved and the players too. I’m surprised he’s so open about retaining Tonda, but should I be… #Saintsfc

@AllenForSur3: A proper owner and a proper football manager. No doubt we piss the league next season

@willsaints13: I do like Solak, seems he does care. Now I’m Tonda in but my opinion has not changed on Parsons

@SouthCoastPod: First show of leadership for a while. Need everyone to pull together now. Tonda is staying so that siege mentally is going to be vital. Notice he used Nigel’s “together as one” too 😆

@JordonOloughlin: Thank you Dragan that is the closure we have all been waiting for, if you want to make it up to us please keep as much of the first team as possible and let’s go again with Tonda at the wheel

@Waitey_93: Good little message, I was hell bent for Tonda out few weeks ago but if he’s not banned, I think he’s the best chance for promotion next season! I do think changes still need to made at boardroom level starting with Parsons

@Hiscock91: Good to hear from Dragan directly. We’ve handled the whole thing poorly but have been dealt our punishment, now let’s shut out the noise and concentrate on a big summer and subsequent season ahead! 💪🏻
#SaintsFC

@joshmids1: Hopefully everyone asking for a apology now gets on with their life and carries on knowing tonda isn’t going if he’s not banned.

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