THE father of Southampton’s Spygate boss Tonda Eckert has been revealed to be an expert in video surveillance.
Eckert helped orchestrate Saints’ clandestine observations of Middlesbrough’s training ahead of their Championship play-off semi-final.
Tonda Eckert’s father specialised in video surveillance Credit: Getty
Southampton were thrown out of the play-offs after Eckert was part of a plot to send an intern to spy on Middlesbrough
deployed an .
However, Eckert’s side – who beat Boro in extra-time in the second leg – were .
Now it has emerged the Eckert family have history in the business.
As reported by The Times , Eckert’s father was a computer scientist.
His expertise included blockchain technology and video surveillance.
And that helped spark his son’s passion for analysis, which landed him a job with the German national team for Euro 2012 aged just 19.
Two years later, he was an analyst and tasked with preparing the dossier on Argentina ahead of the final.
Eckert – who played in the same youth team as Antonio Rudiger – is understood to have been unaware that spying and surveillance on opposition is banned in English football.
The EFL introduced the ruling following the original Spygate scandal featuring Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds and Derby in 2019.
That is because spying is gnerally widely accepted – and even actively encouraged – in his homeland Germany.
In 2018, now-Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann said when Werder Bremen spied on his Hoffenheim team: “I’m not really angry at the analyst doing his job.
“It is actually commendable if an employee does everything for their club and even tries to spy on other teams.”
Eckert himself reportedly disguised himself as a journalist in 2015, two years after Edin Terzic pretended to be a steward to get behind-the-scenes access to watch Real Madrid training.
The written reasons for were damning.
The independent disciplinary commission accused .
Saints were replaced by – with a spot in the Premier League up for grabs.
And that left one Australia-based Southampton fan furious after he spent £3,500 to fly to the UK for the final.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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