Spygate put me in difficult position - Southampton technical chief

ByDan GeorgeBBC Sport, Hampshire and Adam BlackmoreBBC Radio Solent sports editor

Southampton group technical director Johannes Spors says the Spygate scandal put him in a "difficult position" over the summer as the club were preparing for the new season.

In May, Saints were kicked out of the play-offs and deducted four points for admitting they spied on three clubs during the Championship season.

The future of head coach Tonda Eckert was then put into question as a Football Association (FA) investigation took place that could have seen the German coach handed a ban that might have cost him his job.

As the season commenced, the club and their supporters did not know if Eckert would be handed a personal sanction for his role in the scandal, but in early October those fears were put to rest when the FA announced he would be fined £28,000 and that a six-week ban would be suspended until the end of next season.

Saints could have sacked Eckert after he admitted to his mistakes in May, but decided to stick with their man as owner Dragan Solak and the rest of the board gave him a second chance.

"Of course, it did put me into a difficult position," Spors told BBC Radio Solent.

"It was something that probably no-one, or at least not many sporting directors have experienced, planning into a season and a squad with that level of uncertainty.

"I only felt one choice and I'm happy that everybody around me, including Dragan Solak, was very aligned.

"We decided to go this route (backing Eckert) and take it with all consequences and I'm happy we've done that."

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Spors was appointed Southampton's group technical director in February 2025 and played a key role in the appointment of Eckert.

He has previously held six sporting director roles at clubs including Belgian Pro League team Standard Liege and Serie A side Genoa.

While the Spygate saga rumbled on over the summer, Spors revealed that he felt an obligation to support Eckert on a personal level.

"That was something I really focused a lot in the summer, to support him as much as I could," he added.

"We cannot forget that he's a young man with a lot going on in his life, coming into a new country as an unknown and being on the highest level of recognition pretty quickly.

"I just wanted to make sure that he's OK as a human being. I helped him with everything I can with my knowledge, my expertise, but also my friendship.

"I made sure that there are even more people around him who helped him, who have more expertise in certain things than I have and are specialists in areas that he needed help and support over the whole summer."

Saints have started the Championship season well and sit eighth in the table after 11 matches.

They have the best home record in the league, unbeaten with five wins and one draw at St Mary's.

On matchdays, Spors can be seen in the directors' box alongside chief executive Phil Parsons and other members of the club's board.

He felt that it was not a difficult choice to personally back Eckert and keep him at the club over the summer.

"We have known each other for nearly 10 years," he said.

"We worked in Italy and at Red Bull together so I developed a lot of parts of his career, the pro licence, and then the signing here to Southampton.

"I was just convinced that he is a very good manager, there's always a little bit of risk that how does it really work in the reality, but I was super convinced that he would be the right choice.

"Our relationship is close, we speak to each other nearly every day and support each other, we can also have hard discussions behind closed doors, where we challenge each other and I think that's as important as the support."