Fifty seconds was all it took for the chant to begin. “You know what you are, you know what you are, cheating bastards, you know what you are,” bellowed the Bristol City fans, starting up a cry heard from every away contingent coming to St Mary’s Stadium this season. The Southampton supporters responded with sarcastic applause, then drowned out the noise with songs of their own.
This is what life is now like for Southampton after May’s spying scandal – a saga whose full consequences are still unknown and could have ramifications for the season ahead. The English Football League acted swiftly after photographs emerged of a junior staff member hiding behind a tree to film a Middlesbrough training session, expelling Southampton from the Championship play-offs and deducting four points after the club admitted multiple spying offences, including on Oxford United and Ipswich. The Football Association’s case against Tonda Eckert, the manager, is taking far longer. And patience is wearing thin.
The incident left a deep stain on Southampton’s reputation, one that will take time to fade and will leave an indelible mark on their history. Fans initially felt a mixture of fury and embarrassment – their promotion hopes snatched away over smartphone footage of a rival’s training session. Still, it has not stopped them flocking to St Mary’s this season: attendances were a shade under 30,000 for visits from Stoke, Millwall and Swansea and a season-high of 30,132 made Saturday’s Bristol City match almost a sell-out.
“Initially I was disappointed and angry,” says Alex Watson, a 31-year-old Saints fan, outside the stadium before kick-off. “Then you go through all the stages up to acceptance.”
Frustration is now turning towards the FA for taking so long to confirm what punishment – if any – Eckert will face after being charged individually by the governing body. A fine or short ban would be manageable. But Bev Priestman was banned for a year by Fifa, while manager of Canada, after two staff members used a drone to spy on an opponent at the Paris Olympics, so there is precedent for a lengthy suspension. That would likely see Eckert be removed as manager.
It is nearly two months since the FA charged Eckert with misconduct, even though the EFL’s independent panel took a matter of days to determine Eckert authorised the spying and that it was a “contrived and determined plan from the top down”.
“The mood generally is the FA needs to make a decision,” Watson says. “They need to get on and do something about it, one way or the other.”
There is a lingering sense of inconsistency between sanctions for big clubs and the rest – an irritation shared across the country. Chelsea received fines and suspended transfer bans from the Premier League and FA for systemic breaches of agent rules between 2009 and 2022. Yet Southampton have been kicked out of a competition, docked four points and may lose their manager for filming some training sessions.
If anything, Southampton fans have begun leaning into the pantomime-villain role. On the hour, a chant of “We spy when we want, we spy when we want, we are Southampton, we spy when we want” broke out. Within a minute, Cyle Larin had put them two in front with his second of the match.
While awaiting a verdict, the club have been preparing for all eventualities. During a preseason friendly against Preussen Münster, Eckert watched from the stands while his assistant, Ben Garner, took charge in the dugout – practising how operations might work if the German is handed a touchline ban.
after newsletter promotion
The scandal did not deter summer signings. The goalkeeper Daniel Peretz was a £6m coup from Bayern Munich, agreeing to make his loan permanent after playing through the storm. Larin made a similar commitment and the Canadian forward has scored eight goals in nine games. The fan favourite James Ward-Prowse, a star of their last Premier League spell, decided to return.
Early indications are that the team can be promotion challengers. Late goals from Kuryu Matsuki and Finn Azaz completed a thumping win. After the final whistle, Eckert walked around the Northam and the Itchen Stands applauding; the fans stood to applaud back. Eckert, who returned after the summer uncertain how fans would react, says their backing “means everything” to him.
Asked if he has found it easy to block out the looming FA decision, he said: “I wouldn’t call it easy. But life isn’t always easy, if you have big goals then you need to find a way.” He added: “The fans have every right to react differently to the situation, how it’s evolved over the last season. I would’ve respected every reaction and decision from the club, the board and the supporters. Either you can forgive or you can’t. That’s not my decision. It’s just to accept how the reaction is.”
Had Southampton not started the season with a four-point deduction, they would be level on points with the top of the table. Losing the manager behind it would be another cruel twist.
Leave a Reply