Southampton fans will be caught up in World Cup fever right now, but it’s not long until the Saints’ Championship fixtures for the new season are announced.
Indeed, the date that all Saints fans will be waiting for is the 25th of June, with less than a week now to wait to know who the South Coast side will be playing during the opening stages of what will be an initially tricky campaign.
A four point deduction will greet Tonda Eckert’s men from matchday one, due to the Saints being revealed as using spying tactics last season, as the second tier side were also dumped out of the playoffs for their involvement in Spygate.
Right now, it is expected that Southampton will stick by their controversial manager, with Saints owner Dragan Solak coming out to give him a public vote of confidence.
But, an FA ban could still arrive at the German’s door, which would render all these positive comments pointless, with ex-Southampton great Gordon Strachan offering his own thoughts on the much-talked-about 33-year-old recently.
Strachan’s bold thoughts on Eckert
The Scotsman would ultimately resign in 2004 from his Saints managerial duties, as his intentions to step away from the St. Mary’s dug-out during the summer of that year became public knowledge prematurely.
At first glance, you would think he isn’t held in high esteem, off the back of this resignation, but he is remembered as being a stabilising figure on the South Coast, with Strachan guiding Southampton to a high eighth position in the Premier League pile at the close of the 2002/03 season.
Reaching the FA Cup final that same season, which they lost to Arsenal in their Arsene Wenger prime, the Edinburgh-born manager is viewed with a lot of respect to this day, and large sections of the Southampton fanbase will agree with his bold thoughts on Eckert.
The 69-year-old is very matter-of-fact with his musings on the problematic German, with Strachan stating, when speaking with PlayUK: “I think everybody, including Tonda Eckert, deserves a second chance.
“If the manager shows a bit of humility and says ‘I got this wrong’, people will accept it.
“Now is the time to show that humility and apologise. If an apology comes from the heart, it’s different. You can then just get on with it.
“When you read about apologies, they are always ‘grovelling’. I think he just made a mistake, and he has apologised, time to get on with it.”
Strachan’s frank assessment of the ongoing situation will ring true with what a lot of Southampton fans feel, with Solak even echoing the Scotsman’s thoughts when previously revealing he also believes Eckert deserves a second chance to redeem himself.
Whatever does take place, a decision must come soon, as the brand-new Championship campaign isn’t a million miles away…
A decision has to come soon
Indeed, after the World Cup concludes next month on the 19th of July, the first clash of the new second-tier campaign will get underway on the 14th of August, with the main batch of opening matches taking place over the 15th and 16th.
That means there’s barely a month between the world’s grandest competition ending and the entertainment of the EFL’s elite league snapping back into life, so Southampton cannot be kept in the dark for much longer over Eckert’s future as they try to prepare for the workload of EFL action returning.
The hope will be that Southampton have received their severe punishments already and Eckert will be gifted that chance to atone for his mistakes.
But, with the Spygate scandal arguably corrupting the notion that the beautiful game in England is pure, it’s really up in the air as to whether the FA will ban Eckert outright or not, as Southampton fans continue to wait for a decision to be made on his future.
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