Tonda Eckert, the Southampton manager, could face a suspended one-year suspension from English football after the FA accused him with misconduct.
That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider and believes that the Saints manager has already been punished enough by his team’s elimination from last season’s Championship playoffs.
The South Coast club was discovered spying on its play-off rivals Middlesbrough, and they were also found guilty of two more breaches this season.
Wyness believes that the German boss has already “suffered enough” as a result of losing a prospective promotion boss and the significant blow to his reputation.
However, the FA’s claims could lead to a ban, putting both him and the club in a tough situation.
Wyness has urged the governing body to consider a “suspended sentence” for the 33-year-old, given the impact their expulsion decision has had in recent months.
Keith Wyness describes the FA’s’most liberal’ path.
Wyness, Everton’s former CEO from 2004 to 2009 who now operates a football consultancy advising elite clubs, believes that a suspended one-year penalty for Eckert would be the best-case situation for Southampton.
The Scottish businessman is adamant that the ban will never be activated in that case, and that he and his staff will never snoop on other teams again.
On the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness highlighted why the FA is likely to reach the “most lenient” verdict possible.”The biggest issue here, from my point of view, is the penalty levied on Southampton, which I believe was the harshest penalty I’ve ever seen in sports,” he remarked.I believe it was disproportionate, and from what I hear, the EFL did not anticipate the tribunal’s outcome. The club and its employees have already suffered,
which must be considered when determining mitigation measures.That manager did not have his shot at promotion bonuses, etc. He has already had numerous setbacks, including negative publicity, media coverage, and reputational damage.If they were to be lenient,
they could give him a one-year suspended sentence.It would be invoked only if there was another instance of spying in the following season, which you can be quite certain there won’t be. I would hope that the mitigation of already having received such a heavy penalty leads to a suspended sentence.”
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