More chaos at Southampton! Spying Saints reveal Tonda Eckert and the club have been charged by the FA over Middlesbrough play-off scandal – before swiftly DELETING statement to leave nervous fans in the dark

The Spygate scandal took on another dimension when Southampton released a statement admitting they had been accused by the FA, which was quickly deleted.

Saints were excluded from the Championship play-off final in May after admitting to spying on opposing teams in the 2025-26 season.

It comes after a club analyst filmed Middlesbrough training ahead of Southampton’s play-off semi-final against Boro, sparking a major crisis at the south coast club.

Southampton won the tie 2-1 on aggregate but an independent commission later excluded them from the final and also gave them a four-point deduction for next season.

The independent commission found there was a ‘premeditated and determined plan from top to bottom’ to launch an espionage operation that put boss Tonda Eckert under special scrutiny.

The FA subsequently launched its own investigation into the saga; This investigation had potential consequences, including the banning of those involved, particularly boss Eckert and trainee analyst William Salt.

The outcome of this investigation has not yet been announced but Southampton issued a club statement at around 10am on Wednesday morning.

It read: ‘Southampton Football Club and First Team Head Coach Tonda Eckert accept today’s charges from the FA regarding breaches of Rule E3.1.

Tonda and the club will continue to cooperate fully and openly with the FA. Our focus remains on preparations for the 2026-27 Championship season.

Our club continues to provide full support to Tonda and his team as we work towards our goal of returning to the Premier League.

‘We cannot comment further while the process is ongoing, but will provide an update to our supporters as soon as we are able to do so.’

However, within minutes the club statement was deleted, suggesting it had been published in error, creating confusion for Southampton fans and leaving them in the dark.

Local media later reported that a statement from the club and the FA was expected to be released on Thursday.

Eckert and Southampton came under severe scrutiny over the entire incident and were heavily criticized for their poor communication and lack of accountability when the news broke.

Things got even more intense later when the written reasons for the sentence were released, along with some damning revelations about Eckert’s involvement in the espionage operation.

Leaked WhatsApp messages have revealed the German showing his ‘love’ for the gimmick, with one message revealing how Salt was told: ‘You’re a legend’. The manager loved it after a spy mission against Oxford United in December.

Southampton’s efforts to cover up their cheating after Daily Mail Sport broke the story that Salt had been caught recording Middlesbrough’s training session from behind a tree were similarly eye-watering.

Despite the pressure, Saints owner Dragan Solak opted to stay with Eckert rather than fire him, and the German coach addressed fans in a video statement in June.

Speaking fully for the first time since the decision, Eckert said: In the long video he said without blinking: ‘Hello Saints supporters. What I say will not be perfect, but I will try to be as honest and open as I can.

‘I think you deserve it. I want to apologize for everything that happened and I raise my hand because as a head coach I am responsible for this.

‘I am responsible for everything that happens at this football club. I am responsible for everything that happens within my coaching staff.

‘I apologize to the fans, to everyone who traveled with us and supported us in many of our matches.’

In the clip titled ‘A personal message from Tonda Eckert’, he continued: ‘To those who shared their feelings match by match and managed to take us to this end of the season.

‘We had to play the biggest game of the season. I apologize to the players who absolutely did their best. They have done everything in the last six months to get this club where it belongs. ‘They would have deserved to play in the final.’

He added: ‘They would have deserved to play you in the final, just like they did two years ago, just like they did in the semi-final against Manchester City.

‘It hurts to see the staff of the club, it hurts to see the staff, it hurts to see the players who invest so much in the preparations for the matches.

‘Those who have invested so much to leave their families at home to recover and prepare for the upcoming matches are the ones who have suffered so much.

‘Seeing their pain on the day the decision was made because it has such a huge impact not only on them and their careers but also on their families. ‘I apologize to all the clubs involved and mostly to our fans.’

Eckert then went on to ‘contextualise’ the espionage, arguing that his experiences in different leagues colored his thinking.

He explained: ‘When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup we selected for games was always featured in the media before the games.

The reason for this is that our pre-match training sessions are constantly followed by the media and the rival teams we face are constantly followed.

‘[Pep] Guardiola spoke about this during his time at Bayern Munich, saying that it was common practice in Germany to observe training sessions knowing that other teams would do the same.

‘I don’t want to say this to excuse anything we did. I just want to tell you about the context in which I grew up in the football world.

‘There are different rules in England. There are different rules to the EFL. And I should have known them.’

He later added: ‘I am a young coach. I made a mistake and I take full responsibility. I would like to thank Dragan and the board for their support, especially in times like these.

‘With everything I said, without a script and without a predefined phrase. I’m speaking to you from the heart, I hope you get an overview of what’s been going on in recent weeks.

‘I hope you will understand and forgive in time, and I hope to see you all soon.’

MORE TO FOLLOW