Southampton fans react to players backing Tonda Eckert

Southampton fans react to the latest reports suggesting Saints players are backing Tonda Eckert despite the ‘Spygate’ scandal.

Southampton fans couldn’t be any happier than today. After suffering a Championship playoffs final expulsion, a 4 points deduction and imagining worst case scenarios in their mind for weeks, the future finally looks a bit positive.

Earlier this week, it emerged that spying is actually considered acceptable in other European countries, most notably Germany. Then, Daniel Peretz left the door open on his Southampton future.

And now, recent reports suggest that the majority of Saints squad still back Tonda Eckert and view him as the right coach to lead Southampton back to the Premier League.

Nothing is official from Southampton or the FA right now, but deep it for a moment, it may not be that bad where the club searches for a new boss and unwillingly accepts low offers for top players wanting out.

Perhaps, 2-3 player exits for huge transfer fees, Larin and Peretz possibly staying and Johannes Spors making a few quality additions to strengthen the squad for a fresh promotion push. Simply put, optimism is rising among Southampton fans for the 2026/27 Championship season.

Southampton fans react to players backing Tonda Eckert

When Leeds United’s ‘Spygate’ 1.0 surfaced, their fans adopted a siege mentality and ignored the outside noises to back their manager to the full extent. As a result, Leeds got to the Premier League after a 16-year break in 2020 and have done well to maintain that status so far.

Southampton fans share a similar ideology for backing Tonda, now that the players are on the same boat. One Saints fan said: “I mean this really could work with a mentality of ‘us against the world’. We’ll get loads of abuse but use it for your advantage and I’m all for it”

Two weeks ago, there were exaggerated rumours of Southampton players opting to take legal action against the club for the ‘Spygate’ mess. That speculation has now been put to bed, and more and more fans are open to forgiving Tonda and trusting him again.

Another Southampton fan said: “Well if the players are still willing to play for him then I think I’m gonna get behind him and give him another chance.”

Coming to Tonda Eckert’s best trait, it’s his winning mentality. Agreed, he shouldn’t have resorted to spying, but the emphasis he puts on winning games one after the other regardless of injuries and an unfavourable league position, is second to none. How many other managers can instill the same mindset in the current Saints team? Very few.

Pointing out this aspect, a third fan added: “Who else is there who can match his win rate? I’m assuming he doesn’t get a BAN from the FA – but I would say keep him, I have a feeling he will work harder to prove himself to the fans and to the club”

Back in January, Tonda had lost the majority of Saints fanbase at one point with a run of 3 draws and 4 defeats in 7 games. From there, he led Southampton’s incredible turnaround to not just make the playoffs but fall only 4 points behind an automatic promotion spot.

That said, another Tonda redemption arc could be on. As another Saints supporter put it: “love a tonda redemption arc. keep the likes of caspar, thb, bree, leo, shea and signing larin and peretz. along with some recruitment to strengthen the backline. we’d win the league”

Hoping all goes well with FA’s verdict, Southampton could actually have Tonda Eckert in the dugout leading an automatic promotion charge, and maybe a Championship league title win next season.