FA charges Southampton boss after club’s "Spygate" spying scandal
Southampton’s head coach Tonda Eckert has been charged by the Football Association over the ‘Spygate’ scandal.
He was charged with three breaches of rule E3.1, concerning acting in an improper manner and/or bringing the game into disrepute.
The Saints were thrown out of the Championship play-offs by the EFL in May over the affair and docked four points for the coming season.
The club admitted spying on a training session held by play-off opponents Middlesbrough in May, and on sessions at Ipswich and Oxford earlier in the season.
On May 21 the FA confirmed it was investigating the matter, and on Wednesday it announced charges had been brought.
The scandal emerged when a figure with a camera was seen peeking out from behind a tree at Boro’s training ground earlier this month, and reportedly left the future of some of Southampton’s senior staff in doubt.
The suspected "spy" involved is reported to have parked at a nearby golf club and then walked a couple of hundred yards down a road to the spot with a view of the training site.
He was seen pointing his mobile at the training session while wearing headphones.
Middlesbrough staff believe he may have been on a video call and was live-streaming the training session.
He was approached by a member of Boro staff but refused to identify himself before "deleting content" on his phone and running off towards the golf club.
Middlesbrough’s photographer took photos and matched him to a photo on the Southampton website. One of those pictures was subsequently made public and the side immediately reported the incident to the EFL.
Last month, the EFL said the south-coast club were found guilty of a “deplorable” act of putting pressure on the junior member of staff to spy on Boro.
In a damning verdict, the governing body said Southampton boss Eckert authorised the spying.
The German later put out a lengthy video statement on club media, which began: “I will try to be as honest and clear as I can be.
“For everything that has happened, I do want to apologise and I hold my hand up because as head coach I am responsible.
“I am responsible for everything that has happened at this football club.”
As well as play-off semi-final opponents Boro, Saints were also found guilty of spying on Ipswich and Oxford during the regular season.
“I apologise to all of the clubs that have been involved and mostly I apologise to our supporters,” added Eckert, who explained that spying on teams is commonplace in other countries.
Technology & Business Editor
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
