Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert has apologised for his involvement in the 'Spygate' scandal and said that he is "responsible for everything that has happened in this football club."
Southampton were expelled from the Championship playoffs after spying on semifinal opponents Middlesbrough, and pressure has mounted on the German coach after the full extent of his involvement in the scandal was revealed in a report by the League Arbitration Panel on Monday.
The report found that it had been "a contrived and determined plan from top down to gain a competitive advantage," and revealed a text between staff members which confirmed that the "manager loved" the information from one instance of spying.
"For everything that's happened I do want to apologise and I hold my hand up because, as a head coach, I am responsible," Eckert said in a video posted by the club to social media.
"I am responsible for everything that has happened in this football club. I am responsible for everything that has happened in my coaching staff."
Eckert also apologised to his Southampton squad, as well as the clubs which Southampton spied on over the course of the season.
"I am devastated that after six months of building that relationship [between fans and the team] back up the season has come to an end, come to an end that couldn't have left us in a worse place than we are in right now," he continued.
The coach added that observing opposition training sessions is "common practice" in Germany and claimed that "none of what has happened had any effect on the sporting performance" of Southampton this season.
The news comes after club owner Dragan Solak said he had decided against sacking Eckert.
"I think he deserves a second chance and I would give it to him," Solak told BBC Sport. "My full support would be behind him actually, because I think he's a super-talented manager."
The Serbian added: "My personal opinion, and the opinion of the board, is that he is a manager who deserves to be backed by us and to be supported by us. I will obviously seek advice from the team. I will seek advice from the players, from the fans. But yes, if it's ultimately my decision, he stays."
If Eckert were to be banned as a result of the ongoing FA investigation, Solak continued, he would have no option but to look for another manager.
The League Arbitration Panel report also found that "junior members of staff felt compelled to do what they were very uncomfortable doing because they considered their jobs would otherwise be at risk."
- Southampton Spygate messages reveal pressure put on junior staff by manager
- Hugo Broos admits South Africa striker Lyle Foster needs confidence boost before FIFA World Cup
- World Cup 2026: Which players from your Premier League team are going?
But Solak said that the intern involved in the scandal should have come forward to the club's owners to explain what was happening," he said. "I believe that our junior intern felt personally it's wrong, and he didn't feel right for doing this, and I think he should have expressed that stronger.
"I'm pretty sure that if [he had] come to us, the top management, actually it would be the seniors who would be punished, not him.
"I have a lot of pity. I'm sorry for what he had to go through. And we obviously would like him to stay in the club and we offered him a prolonged job with the club."