Tonda Eckert has been named Southampton’s new manager, and his tenure began well with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City.
The 32-year-old won four of his five games as interim manager before being promoted to full-time manager, signing a contract that will last until the end of next season.
Permanent managers under Sport Republic have had little success since Dragan Solak’s business took over in January 2022.
Barring Russell Martin, only Will Still has won more than one league game — and even then, the Belgian manager only won twice in the St Mary’s dugout during the 13 Championship games he oversaw at the start of the season.
Eckert is now halfway to matching that total, and Solak and his teammates will be hoping that he can deliver a similar campaign in terms of results as Martin did two seasons ago, propelling Southampton back into the Premier League, where the club believes it belongs.
If he could, the present Southampton owner has the financial resources to keep the team in the top flight.
Southampton owner Dragan Solak’s estimated net worth during a major Tonda Eckert call.
Dragan Solak, a Serbian businessman, has been Southampton’s majority shareholder since January 2022, when his firm, Sport Republic, acquired 80% of the club’s shares.
However, Solak’s riches stems from his work in cable television, which he began in 2000. United Group began as a tiny cable provider and grew to become one of Serbia’s largest media firms.
While his shares in the company are no longer as large as they once were, his time as chairman saw his net worth skyrocket, and as of March 2025, Solak is estimated to be worth £1.24 billion, more than Evangelos Marinakis at Nottingham Forest and Matthew Benham at Brentford.
Sport Republic is a sports investment corporation that owns majority stakes in many football clubs, including Goztepe SK in Turkey and Valenciennes in France, as well as various sports-related streaming and internet sites.
So there are lots of other ways for the firm and Solak to make money, but getting Southampton back into the Premier League and remaining there will be critical to not only keeping fans happy, but also making his investment in the club worthwhile.
Dragan Solak will be hoping Tonda Eckert can bring Premier League football once more.
There is no doubt that Southampton’s owner has made a significant investment in the club to enable it return to the Premier League.
Established Championship players, such as Tom Fellows for £10 million and Finn Azaz for £12 million, have been joined by promising foreign possibilities, Leo Scienza and Caspar Jander, to make a squad more than capable of achieving promotion.
However, while Solak and Sport Republic deserve credit for adequately funding the team, their managerial judgments have been questionable at best. They’ll be hoping Tonda Eckert can change this.
It may be viewed as a risky decision, given that the 32-year-old is inexperienced at the helm of a senior team, and a contract until 2027 implies that the higher-ups want to cover their bases and avoid a large payout if it doesn’t work out, but five wins in six under Eckert suggests that the Saints are on their way back up.
If Southampton is promoted back to the top flight this season, Dragan Solak will be hoping that ‘third time’s the charm’ in terms of keeping them there.
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