FA HANDS SOUTHAMPTON MANAGER SUSPENDED BAN OVER SPYING SCANDAL

An independent FA commission has given Southampton manager Tonda Eckert a six-week ban from all football, suspended until the end of next season, over a spying scandal at the club. He was also fined £28,000 and given a reprimand. The sanction lets Eckert continue in his role, having avoided a ban that could have cost him his job. The FA charged him in July with misconduct, with a hearing held in September, finding him guilty of three breaches of FA Rule E3.1.

Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs in May after admitting to spying on training sessions involving Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough, and were handed a four-point deduction for this season. An EFL independent disciplinary commission ruled that the espionage was authorised by Eckert, describing it as a "contrived and determined plan from the top down" that used junior staff "at the direction of senior personnel". An arbitration panel heard that one junior analyst intern felt under "extreme pressure". Eckert apologised in June, saying he had been unaware the practice was banned and that it had no impact on his team's performances.

The ban only applies if Eckert is found to have been involved in further spying before the end of next season. He said last month that the punishment had been "absolutely unheard of in the history of sports" and that he had apologised publicly and asked for forgiveness. Southampton, who face Portsmouth this weekend, sit 13th in the Championship this season with four wins from eight matches. The FA did not charge former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa after Leeds were found guilty of spying on Derby County in 2019, issuing a formal warning instead.