Tonda Eckert

[egg]

8 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

With respect, you’re missing the point - they were asked to do something that they felt uncomfortable with because it felt wrong (and was wrong, per EFL rules). That is entirely different from being pressured to deliver a legitimate piece of work by your boss. 

There was documented evidence of WhatsApp messages exerting pressure to do this, despite their reticence, which is why the judge described it as ‘deplorable’. 

Indeed. Context and nuance is important. There's a massive power imbalance with top down requests to the most junior people, and that can make the pressure feel more coercive. If the pressure is to do something urgent but legitimate, no real issue, but if it's to do something inappropriate or improper (as this was), the boss could be considered to be exploiting someone vulnerable (i.e. interns and juniors) then the pressure may be nudging into bullying territory.

Anyways, the decision has been made, findings have been made, and post mortems don't bring things back to life so it's time to move on. 

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

I assume the intern has a pair of balls and a mouth?

Yes, but he was an intern. That's a big part of the point.

There's a world of difference between peer pressure where it's easy to tell someone to do one, and being the kid who hasn't even got a job yet but wants/needs to impress and do as he's told. 

[Hopper]

The lad took a full time position. If he felt the relationship with Tonda was untenable he wouldn't have accepted it and might have rightly had grounds for unfair/constructive dismissal.

If it were truly bullying I don't think he would have signed especially knowing the board are sticking with Tonda. Ultimately if Tonda has held his hands up admitted guilt and apologised and the intern has accepted this and they've decided to move on I don't see what the outcry is about. Things happen in workplaces, most often they are resolved either through mediation or some other means and people get on.

[saintwbu]

29 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

99% of the story is about spying and part of that was pressuring interns to support that even though it was against the rules.

Frothing at the mouth about something that is at the fringes of the story I don't actually think adds to anything when the main facts are undisputed and admitted to.

There’s no frothing at the mouth that I can see, and it doesn’t feel like it’s the fringes of the story when it seems to be the main aspect of why others want to see Tonda sacked - because he’s a ‘bully and the club shouldn’t employ someone who is such. 

[CB Fry]

14 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

I assume the intern has a pair of balls and a mouth?

I assume that a guy who spent two years working as an assistant at a EFL football club would know the rules of the league he was playing in rather than pretending he didn't.

Maybe he doesn't have a pair of eyes or ears.

To try and pin a load of blame on an intern for not speaking out more is a disgrace from Solak and here, you.

[Sheaf Saint]

11 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Well yes - if we intentionally did it and if we ultimately used it, but not in the same way as an analyst being instructed to go over there, watch and record etc. 

But that is exactly what happened, according to the statements given to the EFL...

https://images.gc.eflservices.co.uk/4863abd0-5dc8-11f1-9347-83110955f550.pdf

The Ipswich Incident

22. The Club was scheduled to play Ipswich in a home fixture on the evening of 28 April 2026. In preparation, Ipswich trained at Eastleigh Football Club (“Eastleigh”) prior to the match. The evidence before the Commission was that Southampton and Eastleigh had a close working relationship.

23. Mr Eckert’s evidence before the Commission was that he had understood that someone from Eastleigh had sent CCTV footage of the Ipswich training session to someone at Southampton, the existence of which he (Mr Eckert) knew only a couple of hours before kick-off. After a short while, he asked for it to be switched off, so he could concentrate on the pre-match meeting. He said the footage showed nothing of influence, and he made no alterations to the match preparations which were in any event complete by that time.

24. However, it was Analyst 1’s evidence that the Assistant Coach (one of Southampton’s First Team Coaches) told him that Mr Eckert had said at an earlier match preparation meeting that “someone should go to Eastleigh to look at Ipswich”; and the Junior Analyst Intern said he was approached by the Assistant Coach to go to Eastleigh to watch Ipswich “as the boss is adamant that someone needs to go”. The Junior Analyst Intern felt uncomfortable doing this and said, “No”, and no further pressure was applied for him to go. Analyst 1 also felt uncomfortable: he said in his evidence that he grouped himself with the younger members of the analysis team who were being pressurised into carrying out observations, and he felt pressurised himself. Furthermore, at the time of the Ipswich match, he was attending a UEFA Coaching Course. So, he did not go to observe the Ipswich training session either. But Analyst 2 called him when he was at that course, saying the coaches were insistent that someone should go to Eastleigh, and Analyst 1 called an Academy Analyst Intern who had worked with Eastleigh before, and he said he would go. Analyst 1 asked that he be provided with Eastleigh kit and a legend, i.e. what his supposed “role” was at Eastleigh.

25. The Junior Analyst duly went to Eastleigh and observed the training sessions. Someone at Eastleigh video recorded the whole session on the morning of the match, this was sent to Southampton. From that footage, the Club was able to predict the exact Ipswich team for the fixture.

 

So there was much more to it than us just obtaining CCTV footage and not watching it. 

[CB Fry]

2 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

There’s no frothing at the mouth that I can see, and it doesn’t feel like it’s the fringes of the story when it seems to be the main aspect of why others want to see Tonda sacked - because he’s a ‘bully and the club shouldn’t employ someone who is such. 

Well he hasn't been sacked and isn't going to be sacked.

How long do you want to prolong playing the victim being you have got what you want?

Edited 1 hour ago by CB Fry

[obelisk]

5 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

How long do you want to prolong playing the victim being you have got what you want?

Some see the original transgression as a minor offence that has brought about a disproportionate punishment, that the allegations of bullying are over-egged and want to move on with preparations for next season.

Others, such as Mr Blackmore, want to continue beating themselves with sticks while the club goes about some sort of self-immolation in order to satisfy an angry mob of accusers who still think the punishment handed down wasn't enough.

It would seem that the former are now the majority. What is it that the latter minority want?

[Farmer Saint]

Tonda isn't innocent, but the crying and pearl clutching from some of our fans is embarrassing. Stop being such pussies.

[benjii]

Loan him to Goztepe?

[saintwbu]

19 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Well he hasn't been sacked and isn't going to be sacked.

How long do you want to prolong playing the victim being you have got what you want?

Ah, I see, you were one who wanted him sacked. That explains it. 

[CB Fry]

12 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Others, such as Mr Blackmore, want to continue beating themselves with sticks while the club goes about some sort of self-immolation in order to satisfy an angry mob of accusers who still think the punishment handed down wasn't enough.

I think this existing in your own mind.

[Maggie May]

42 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

I assume the intern has a pair of balls and a mouth?

Excuse me, sir. This is a family website. 

[Farmer Saint]

25 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Well he hasn't been sacked and isn't going to be sacked.

How long do you want to prolong playing the victim being you have got what you want?

I'm confused by your attitude on this, as you have consistently shown yourself to be a bully on this forum - you present yourself as the hard man, the enforcer, and this is where you draw the line. 

Very odd.

[egg]

16 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Tonda isn't innocent, but the crying and pearl clutching from some of our fans is embarrassing. Stop being such pussies.

There's no pearl clutching, rather some posters who aren't seeking to push back against conclusions and what's happened. I think he's a lucky lad to still be here. 

[CB Fry]

12 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Tonda isn't innocent, but the crying and pearl clutching from some of our fans is embarrassing. Stop being such pussies.

Quite right. Boo hoo the media are being horrible and why aren't our club media contacts unflinchingly loyal and obedient to whatever the club says. Agree it is pathetic.

[CB Fry]

18 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

I'm confused by your attitude on this, as you have consistently shown yourself to be a bully on this forum - you present yourself as the hard man, the enforcer, and this is where you draw the line. 

Very odd.

I thought people needed to "stop being such pussies"?

[obelisk]

31 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Tonda isn't innocent, but the crying and pearl clutching from some of our fans is embarrassing. Stop being such pussies.

There's a few that don't seem to understand the concept of a team game. Certainly wouldn't want to see some of the surrender attitude on the pitch in the coming season.

[Farmer Saint]

13 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I thought people needed to "stop being such pussies"?

They do - what's your point?

[Farmer Saint]

29 minutes ago, egg said:

There's no pearl clutching, rather some posters who aren't seeking to push back against conclusions and what's happened. I think he's a lucky lad to still be here. 

He is a bit lucky, I agree, and a worse manager would have been sacked. However, this virtue signalling faux outrage at spying and sending an adult to video a training session is overblown in my opinion.

[Scully]

When the rest of the league and the media is pushing for maximum punishment then thats you need to push back, not to cave in. Nobody is going to help the club or show any pity when they seek to benefit from the outcome

[Fitzhugh Fella]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

I assume that a guy who spent two years working as an assistant at a EFL football club would know the rules of the league he was playing in rather than pretending he didn't.

Maybe he doesn't have a pair of eyes or ears.

To try and pin a load of blame on an intern for not speaking out more is a disgrace from Solak and here, you.

Yea completely blaming an intern is unacceptable but my remark - although slightly tongue in cheek - has some validity. I would have a bit more admiration if he had challenged (or at least questioned) what he was being asked to do. The whole intern thing is morally wrong anyway. Slave labour. My  neighbour's son is an intern at Ipswich and apparently he too is treated like shit.