Tonda Eckert

[Toadhall Saint]

15 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

He comes accross as slightly autistic to me and absolutely obsessed/ single minded about football. Which isn't a bad thing as a manager tbf. Would be fascinating to see what he's like away from the game. I bet it consumes his life and I'm surprised he has time for anything else.

Like kids 😉? But yes definitely autistic which (like you say) isn’t a bad thing.

[Tamesaint]

He is 33. It is ridiculous how good he is.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Top three for win percentage in the UK in the last twelve months, so I’ve been told

[Lighthouse]

He's now been manager for one year, Still was sacked following a 0-2 home defeat by PNE on November the first. Since then we've lost one league game at St Mary's, against Hull in January. Happy anniversary Tonda!

[sfc4prem]

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He's now been manager for one year, Still was sacked following a 0-2 home defeat by PNE on November the first. Since then we've lost one league game at St Mary's, against Hull in January. Happy anniversary Tonda!

That was our shifty run of games where people were doubting Tonda. 

[Saint NL]

I was watching Benjamin Blooms video about the best two Championship teams this year, Boro and Saints. He worked out that since Tonda was appointed, Saints have something like 2.3 points per game. Extrapolated out over a whole season and Saints would have the highest ever points total in the Championship. 

Hopefully Tonda keeps it going, gets us promoted and becomes a Saints legend.

 

Link to the video

Edited Sunday at 19:20 by Saint NL

[Winnersaint]

Palace sack Sage want Tonda

[trousers]

37 minutes ago, Winnersaint said:

Palace sack Sage want Tonda

Source?

[Lighthouse]

He was only parsley responsible for the problems at Palace but it was definitely thyme to go.

[Patrick Bateman]

3 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He was only parsley responsible for the problems at Palace but it was definitely thyme to go.

Probably only parsley to blame though?

[Winnersaint]

7 hours ago, trousers said:

Source?

Should have read If  Palace sack Sage would they want Tonda? It was late 

Edited Monday at 08:13 by Winnersaint

[Tamesaint]

If you want a laugh on the first anniversary of Tonda's appointment , look back st the first few pages of this thread. Hilarious. I was as annoyed with the appointment as everyone else and cannot believe how it has all evolved. Let's hope his second year is as good as Tonda's first year.

[steve green]

34 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

If you want a laugh on the first anniversary of Tonda's appointment , look back st the first few pages of this thread. Hilarious. I was as annoyed with the appointment as everyone else and cannot believe how it has all evolved. Let's hope his second year is as good as Tonda's first year.

 

Yes, I had to have a quick check to re-assure myself I'd not said just how poo appointing him was as I certainly thought that.

Of course things have taken an even more bizzare turn than any of us could've thought. But the guy can coach and can manage players.

Now I want to see the forced grimace on a EFL rep as he awards Tonda a manager of the month trophy or indeed champ' manager of the year just to see the Middlesborough forums explode.

[Toadhall Saint]

15 minutes ago, steve green said:

 

Yes, I had to have a quick check to re-assure myself I'd not said just how poo appointing him was as I certainly thought that.

Of course things have taken an even more bizzare turn than any of us could've thought. But the guy can coach and can manage players.

Now I want to see the forced grimace on a EFL rep as he awards Tonda a manager of the month trophy or indeed champ' manager of the year just to see the Middlesborough forums explode.

And for Tonda to accept on behalf of the analysis team 😂

[LiberalCommunist]

Its too early for I told you so's......but boy am I glad the owner isn't as emotive and reactionary as the majority of our fanbase. 

 

[hypochondriac]

They really need to tie him down with a new contract. The longer it goes on the more worrying it becomes.

[skintsaint]

22 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

They really need to tie him down with a new contract. The longer it goes on the more worrying it becomes.

You would think that after the board backed him through this whole saga, he wouldn't jump ships at the first opportunity that comes. Especially as there is a decent chance Palace/Saints could be swapping positions come next season.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, skintsaint said:

You would think that after the board backed him through this whole saga, he wouldn't jump ships at the first opportunity that comes. Especially as there is a decent chance Palace/Saints could be swapping positions come next season.

I don't mean Palace specifically but clubs are going to at least enquire if we haven't tied him down. 

[benjii]

FAB has been assured he's only a temporary cover.

[VectisSaint]

18 hours ago, Saint NL said:

I was watching Benjamin Blooms video about the best two Championship teams this year, Boro and Saints. He worked out that since Tonda was appointed, Saints have something like 2.3 points per game. Extrapolated out over a whole season and Saints would have the highest ever points total in the Championship. 

Hopefully Tonda keeps it going, gets us promoted and becomes a Saints legend.

 

Link to the video

He also took us to FA Cup SF, including wins against 2 PL teams (and not just any PL team, the Champions).

[Zorba]

13 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He was only parsley responsible for the problems at Palace but it was definitely thyme to go.

That’s funny! I was trying to rack up some more but i’ve been cumin up short.

[HKsaint]

Manchester United may enquire after sacking Carrick.

[Greenridge]

57 minutes ago, HKsaint said:

Manchester United may enquire after sacking Carrick.

yeah, right.

[Badger]

14 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He was only parsley responsible for the problems at Palace but it was definitely thyme to go.

At least he won’t be joining the dill-do Brothers at West Ham 

[Badger]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't mean Palace specifically but clubs are going to at least enquire if we haven't tied him down. 

It’s not so much EPL jobs that worry me but approaches from Germany, especially with wife and baby there. Understandable if that is an attraction to leave. 

[SaintTex]

On 31/10/2026 at 14:40, Oisin said:

It’s difficult to compare as, clearly, the premier league is a league above. But this is by far and away the best AND most enjoyable football I’ve seen in a decade.

A decade is right. Koeman left the club in 2016 and i feel like we have been in the managerial wilderness for 10 years, up until now.

Maybe there were some green shoots with Hasenhüttl during that time and yes we were in the PL, but there was a lot of middling football being played for sure.

[saintant]

2 hours ago, HKsaint said:

Manchester United may enquire after sacking Carrick.

Not a chance they'd even contemplate gambling on Tonda although I'm sure he could do a job for them.

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, saintant said:

Not a chance they'd even contemplate gambling on Tonda although I'm sure he could do a job for them.

He could be their new Alex Ferguson!

[CB Fry]

If we're all going to pretend that Prem clubs are going to poach managers from the Championship then probably the one they want is the one literally at the top of the league. 

[coalman]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

If we're all going to pretend that Prem clubs are going to poach managers from the Championship then probably the one they want is the one literally at the top of the league. 

One whose chairman has historically been incredibly supportive of his managers moving on mid season as well.

[Green]

Wife and child now in UK, living together. 

[qwertyell]

8 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

They really need to tie him down with a new contract. The longer it goes on the more worrying it becomes.

I don't think it really matters. Contracts for managers aren't worth the paper they're written on. 

If he gets a better offer elsewhere and wants to go, we're pretty much powerless to stop it, whether he has six months or six years to run on his deal. 

It'll just be haggling over compensation. 

[qwertyell]

2 minutes ago, Green said:

Wife and child now in UK, living together. 

I mean, it'd be unusual if the child was living separately. 

[benjii]

16 minutes ago, Green said:

Wife and child now in UK, living together. 

Congratulations!

[Turkish]

12 hours ago, Green said:

Wife and child now in UK, living together. 

Oh no, ready to settle here after his move to Palace 😢

[Turkish]

14 hours ago, CB Fry said:

If we're all going to pretend that Prem clubs are going to poach managers from the Championship then probably the one they want is the one literally at the top of the league. 

Remember when loads of people on here were shitting themselves Liverpool or England were going to come in for Nigel Adkin’s as he was going to be the next great English manager 

[tdmickey3]

17 hours ago, HKsaint said:

Manchester United may enquire after sacking Carrick.

We all know it will be Russell Martin

[sockeye]

1 hour ago, tdmickey3 said:

We all know it will be Russell Martin

If Wilcox has anything to say about it, probably

[Britannia]

25 minutes ago, sockeye said:

If Wilcox has anything to say about it, probably

That would make great entertainment for the media.

Edited yesterday at 10:10 by Britannia

[Saint86]

On 01/11/2026 at 19:18, Saint NL said:

I was watching Benjamin Blooms video about the best two Championship teams this year, Boro and Saints. He worked out that since Tonda was appointed, Saints have something like 2.3 points per game. Extrapolated out over a whole season and Saints would have the highest ever points total in the Championship. 

Hopefully Tonda keeps it going, gets us promoted and becomes a Saints legend.

 

Link to the video

Doesn't surprise me, i was making the point last season (re spygate and people wanting him sacked), that since he adopted the 4-2-3-1 with peretz and Larin, Tonda was delivering circa 2.46pts per game. That is absurd.

I know i certainly waivered on him somewhere along the lines - fluctuated between thinking he didn't have it and him needing support / to learn quickly... Well on that last point, he smashed it out of the park 😄🤩

Edited yesterday at 13:48 by Saint86

[Patches O Houlihan]

On 02/11/2026 at 16:05, SaintTex said:

A decade is right. Koeman left the club in 2016 and i feel like we have been in the managerial wilderness for 10 years, up until now.

Maybe there were some green shoots with Hasenhüttl during that time and yes we were in the PL, but there was a lot of middling football being played for sure.

We were top of the Premier League under Hassenhüttl (briefly) and the council changed the welcome signs to the city.

That said the atmosphere was very different; we knew we had found a good manager who was able to win against the odds stacked against us more often than we 'should' do, rather than the feeling that we have now that we genuinely are amongst the class of the division.

I wouldn't for one moment say that it was a good thing that we were kicked out of the playoffs - BUT there are some benefits.

I suspect that teams that get promoted really benefit from a feeling of momentum, togetherness, and a pervading feeling of 'we are good enough to be here' throughout the club, staff and fans, and we see this particularly with teams that have won consecutive promotions 😉

Despite having gone on that long unbeaten run under Russell Martin there were still plenty of draws and the odd 'lucky win' and after all the years of sinking down the PL we all still bore the ScarTissue™ - Meaning that not many of us were hopeful we could stay up; particularly after we saw the recruitment. 

In fact there was a theory that you don't go all in on recruitment the first time because the jump is too high; you wait for the second one...

Either way if we do find ourselves promoted to the PL in May we will have had 19 consecutive months of supporting a team that mostly wins and feels confident, rather than ~7 under Russell.

Unless we have got lucky in the playoffs from a low finishing spot, no-one is going to say that Saints don't deserve to be there. The difficult bit will be the hard and ruthless decision-making that might be needed in order to re-build the team so it genuinely can stay in the PL.

Incidentally the answer is 68 and 95 - that's the number of chickens I've counted in case you were wondering!

...It's also the total number of games managed in all competitions, and the Championship points Saints have won under Tonda across 46 league games (2.06 average). This suggests a total of 22 cups games, 19 of which we have won (including Fulham & Arsenal).

If we considered them all as league games this would be a 2.24 average or a 103 point season. 

Cheers Tonda 🍻 Keep up the good work.