Southampton to be hit with 'sanctions' after Tonda Eckert lands 'harsh' punishment

Southampton are likely to face further punishment from the FA after Tonda Eckert was charged with misconduct.

That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that the treatment of the Saints' intern may have changed the FA's conclusion.

Following an investigation, Eckert has been charged with three breaches of spying on opponents, and it is understood that he's unlikely to appeal the decision.

Of course, the Saints' tactics were discovered during the Championship play-offs against Middlesbrough, when an intern, who has now been employed by the club, was sent to spy on their opponents.

Since then, there has been serious debate over how the club and manager should be punished, and supporters at St Mary's are yet to discover what could happen to their boss.

Just weeks remain until the 2026-27 campaign kicks off, and Eckert is finally set to understand his fate. Whatever happens, Borson believes it's the wrong decision.

Southampton must be prepared for further punishments

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson predicted further punishment for the Saints, despite an already "harsh" result for Eckert.

"Most people disagree with my analysis of the Southampton situation and say that it's totally different from the Leeds [United] situation," he said.

"And that, therefore, you can't use the Leeds situation as an indicator as to what should have happened. Well, there is one area where it's exactly the same as the Leeds situation, which is the FA, because the FA haven't changed the rules.

"I don't even think there's any difference in terms of the type of intern that was used. I think probably what the FA would think is, first of all, that the perception of this as an issue is new from where it was six, seven years ago with Leeds.

"And some of the stuff in the decision points to a harsher approach from the FA. A young person is involved, a young person felt pressurised into doing it, and the young person actually objected to doing it.

"Now maybe if you take all of that you can differentiate it from what happened with Leeds, and therefore Bielsa doesn't get charged, gets warned by the FA, whereas Southampton get a full charge.

"I think it's harsh. But as I say, most people don't agree with me on this topic, so you have to accept that if the general move is different from my view of it, then of course it's going to get charged.

"And there'll probably be sanctions as well, I would think."

What are Southampton's chances of winning promotion?

Despite the ongoing drama at St Mary's Stadium, supporters will still be hopeful of their team winning promotion to the Premier League next season.

The Saints finished fourth in the Championship last term, and had Spygate not happened, there is no telling if they would have gone on to win the play-offs.

Currently, one major bookmaker has Southampton priced at 14/1 to win the Championship outright, while being priced at 9/2 to win promotion.

West Ham United, Wolves, Burnley, Middlesbrough and Birmingham City are all being given better chances, and a punishment for Eckert could change things once again.