'You legend. Manager loved it' - Southampton's Spygate WhatsApps revealed
Southampton were expelled from the Championship play-offs and deducted four points for the 2026-27 season
- Published
New WhatsApp messages have revealed how Southampton orchestrated a spying campaign against their Championship rivals.
Junior members of staff told the independent disciplinary commission how head coach Tonda Eckert had placed them "under extreme pressure" to carry out a task they were clearly uncomfortable with and felt was morally wrong.
The exchanges are detailed in the written reasons of the League Arbitration Panel, which was appointed to hear Southampton's appeal against being expelled from the Championship play-offs and deducted four points from next season.
Saints had pleaded guilty to charges of spying on Oxford United and Ipswich Town in the regular season, and then Middlesbrough before the play-off semi-final.
In the written reasons of the punishment, Southampton's conduct was described as a "contrived and determined plan from the top down", which head coach Eckert had approved.
Now WhatsApp messages revealed in the League Arbitration Panel's report show how the plan was orchestrated.
The messages detail how:
A junior analyst sent to observe Oxford United train before their December fixture with Southampton sent a message to colleagues saying: "I didn't really have an option and wasn't provided an opportunity to say no. I was an intern and was doing what I was told."
When he sent details from that session back to his boss, he received a WhatsApp reading: "You legend. Manager loved it."
Upon being asked to carry out a second spying mission on Ipswich he expressed concern but was told that "the boss is adamant that someone needs to go".
That upon being caught, another analyst at the club sent a message to his colleague saying: "I said all along I was never happy about it all & it wasn't right but no one listened to me!"
The document goes on to explain how the intern was caught by staff at Middlesbrough as he spied on their training session in the build-up to their play-off semi-final in May.
It reveals how he discovered Southampton had been accused of spying while he was still on a train coming back from Middlesbrough.
And it details how Southampton then attempted to delete images of the intern from the internet.
'I didn't really have an option'
A junior analyst intern was sent to Oxford's training ground for two days before the teams met on 26 December. Their opponents had changed manager, sacking Gary Rowett, and Eckert wanted to know what formation they would play under caretaker Craig Short.
In his evidence, the junior analyst intern said: "I didn't really have an option and wasn't provided an opportunity to say no. I was an intern and was doing what I was told."
It was added that another analyst had lost their job earlier in the season, and this added pressure to perform tasks they might be uncomfortable with.
The intern sent updates, photographs and videos to the Southampton coaching staff.
From his observation, he knew Oxford were going to play with a back four, not a back five. A predicted Oxford line-up was prepared on the basis of the observations made by the junior analyst intern.
The same predicted team sheet was sent to Eckert, which included a section entitled "key messages", which appear to be gleaned from the junior analyst intern's observations.
The junior analyst intern then had a telephone conversation with Eckert to discuss what he had seen.
During his evidence, Eckert denied viewing the footage and insisted the information had no impact on the match preparation.
But a WhatsApp message sent from an analyst to the junior analyst intern read: "Try and make out as much as you can please. You legend. Manager loved it."
Analyst spied on Ipswich wearing Eastleigh kit
Southampton met Ipswich in the penultimate game of the season, with both teams going for second place.
In preparation, Ipswich trained at Eastleigh Football Club.
One of the first-team coaches told another analyst that Eckert said at an earlier match preparation meeting that "someone should go to Eastleigh to look at Ipswich".
The assistant coach approached the junior analyst intern about travelling to Eastleigh "as the boss is adamant that someone needs to go".
The junior analyst intern felt uncomfortable doing this and said "no" to the suggestion.
Another analyst said in his evidence that he grouped himself with the younger members of the analysis team who were being pressurised into carrying out the spying, and he felt pressurised himself.
This other analyst asked to be provided with an Eastleigh kit and a legend - an explanation of his supposed role at the National League club - and made the trip to observe the training sessions.
Someone present at Eastleigh that day video-recorded the whole session and it was sent to Southampton. From that footage, Southampton were able to predict the exact Ipswich team for the fixture.
Eckert claimed that he understood that someone from Eastleigh had sent CCTV footage of the Ipswich training session to someone at Southampton, the existence of which Eckert knew only a couple of hours before kick-off.
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