Football Daily | Southampton find a ‘super-talented’ reason to stick with Tonda Eckert

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Southampton don’t have an official club motto. But at the start of next season, as they try to leave behind the spying scandal that devastated their 2025-26 campaign, they could borrow a phrase from the poetry of Alexander Pope: to err is human; to forgive, divine. The club’s owner Dragan Solak has confirmed that their German head coach, Tonda Eckert, will not be sacked for his part in the fiasco that led to Southampton being kicked out of the playoff final. “I think he deserves a second chance and I would give it to him,” soothed Solak. “My full support would be behind him actually, because I think he’s a super-talented manager.”

Don’t worry about your version of the Tim Payne tune, Andy Korman (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). If he heard it, he’d probably know the song was about him. He is probably walking into the dressing room like he was walking on to a yacht, with all this attention. The Phoenix kit could conceivably be called Apricot. Oh god, I’ll stop” – Jon Millard (and no other AOR enthusiasts).

Ben Fisher reckons Andoni Iraola can ‘bring the swagger back to Arsenal’ (yesterday’s Still Want Mores, full email edition). Well, yes, but maybe that’s just a little too on-the-nose for Liverpool fans hoping for a resurgence at Anfield” – Mark Rae (and 1,056 others)

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