Tonda Eckert's Spygate excuse doesn't wash and is a bad look for Southampton

The 33-year-old might well have taken the club into the Premier League at his first attempt if not for the Spygate disgrace. Southampton’s decision to back their head coach will annoy many followers of the game away from St Mary’s.

It will be interesting to see what the FA inquiry comes up with this summer. You can look at it two ways. If Eckert genuinely did not know that it was against the rules to spy on other clubs in training then he is innocent.

However, that simply implicates all the English members of staff around him who would have been well aware of the rules. The FA will be well advised to look at this point very closely.

The fact that the intern who spied on Middlesbrough refused to do the same ahead of a previous game at Ipswich suggests that he certainly knew that it was wrong. That’s in addition to him attempting to hide behind a tree at Rockliffe Park.

Naturally, if Eckert was aware of the rules then he deserves to have the book thrown at him. But whether the FA have any authority to end his contract with Southampton remains to be seen.

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One thing Kim Hellberg must do is to make sure his players are fully primed for the two battles against the Saints next season. They will be intense, torrid affairs on the pitch, with spice provided by the vitriol which will come from the stands from both sets of home fans.

Naturally the irony for both clubs is that neither made the hallowed step into the Premier League last season and have it all to do over again.

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Middlesbrough are preparing for a big summer as they look to rebuild from the heartarche of missing out on promotion to the Premier League.

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