As Southampton manager Tonda Eckert awaits the FA hearing into his 'Spygate' misconduct conduct charge BBC sports editor Dan Roan speaks to him and club chief executive Phil Parsons on what happens next.
As Southampton manager Tonda Eckert awaits the FA hearing into his 'Spygate' misconduct conduct charge BBC sports editor Dan Roan speaks to him and club chief executive Phil Parsons on what happens next.
"I would lie if I say that the summer has just been easy. Of course, if you care deeply about your profession, about the football club, there's nothing that prepares you for that. There just isn't."
Eckert speaks slowly and with an intense gaze when asked to reflect on being at the centre of one of the biggest controversies in English football history.
The 33-year-old apologised in June after an EFL independent disciplinary commission found he had orchestrated a "contrived and determined plan" to spy on Oxford United, Ipswich Town, then Middlesbrough before the play-off semi-final.
Having insisted he was unaware it breached EFL rules, and that the spying had no impact on performances, Eckert was backed by Southampton.
His team have made an encouraging start to the new season. Without the four-point deduction, they would be fourth in the table, rather than 13th.
"We've talked a lot over the summer of how we want to go through that process of addressing everything, giving everyone the chance to put questions out that are still there, to put out what they feel and have gone through, and then also close the door and move on," he says.
"Because the reality is it's a new season. We have big ambitions as a football club, and in order to reach them, we need to move on."
That is easier said than done, with Eckert in limbo while he awaits the outcome of the FA's disciplinary process.
"I've had the chance to sit down and just talk the FA through everything that happened," he says. "And now it's up to them to make a decision. I don't really have any emotions towards that."
Averytin News Soccer update.