FA to take 'lenient' Tonda Eckert stance as expected Southampton ban revealed
Southampton manager Tonda Eckert is highly unlikely to be hit with a lengthy ban from football from the FA in Thursday's hearing.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the governing body are likely to show a fairly "lenient" stance towards the German.
The 33-year-old is set to face a hearing in front of the FA's disciplinary panel on Thursday after his role in the Spygate saga during last season's Championship play-off campaign.
Wyness believes that Eckert is likely to receive no more than a potential four-game ban, alongside a hefty fine for his misdemeanours.
That would see the boss absent from the touchline for the Saints' crunch derby clash against Portsmouth after the international break.
However, a four-game ban would undoubtedly be a reasonable outcome in the club's eyes, given that the threat of a far bigger sentence is also on the table.
FA set to show sympathy towards Southampton
Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that the FA are likely to show sympathy to Eckert, due to the punishment that Southampton previously received.
The South Coast outfit were kicked out of the play-offs last season, a punishment which Wyness deems to be one of the harshest he's ever seen in sports.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, the Scottish businessman made it clear that he feels Eckert's side have already taken enough blows at this stage.
"I think what's going to happen is he's going to get somewhere between a two and a four-game ban and a fine," he said.
"I think the mitigating factor for the fine will be the way that he knew about this and directed it to a degree as well. I think this will come out on the lenient side of the number of games.
"I think the FA might rely on the fact that they've got Portsmouth coming up, which of course is the big local derby on the South Coast. So the FA might think, well, hang on, we're penalising Southampton for a big derby game and that will get a headline for us as well.
"I'm really firmly in the camp that I think the club have been penalised too much already. It was a huge penalty. One of the biggest penalties I've seen in modern sport, never mind football,
"I think that if it is two to four games, then everybody can live with that. He won't lose his job, things will carry on, and I want this swept under the carpet once and for all. Let's move on."
Aaron Ramsdale 'certain' to leave Southampton in January
Former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider last week that Aaron Ramsdale's departure from St Mary's in the January transfer window is "inevitable."
The 28-year-old goalkeeper spent last season on loan at Newcastle and still hasn't made a competitive appearances for Southampton so far this term.
Nevertheless, Brown believes that the former Arsenal man remains well-regarded within the game, and is likely to get a move back to the Premier League.
Ramsdale's most recent competitive game came back in April, before he lost his place in the Newcastle side in the latter stages of the season.