Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt has launched a scathing attack on Southampton manager Tonda Eckert, suggesting he should be sacked if he needed to spy on Middlesbrough this late in the season. The Saints face an anxious wait to learn whether the 'Spygate' scandal will cost them a place in the Championship play-off final after they were charged by the EFL for allegedly spying on a Boro training session last week.
Eckert's side completed a 2-1 aggregate victory over Middlesbrough in the semi-final on Tuesday night to set up a Wembley meeting with Hull on May 23. However, the EFL issued a statement on Thursday afternoon to say the hearing would take place “on or before Tuesday, May 19”. The game at Wembley a week on Saturday appears to be in doubt, given an appeal from one or more parties in the case seems almost certain.
Butt did not hold back in his criticism, claiming that if Southampton needed to watch a Middlesbrough training session after a full season, then Eckert and his club’s recruitment and scouting team should be sacked on the spot. He also took aim at Kim Hellberg for the way he has reacted. “It's been going on for years,” he said via Paddy Power. “I remember when we first started playing in Europe, I was probably about 20, we used to always train the night before a game at the ground and the manager would never ever, ever do the real starting eleven. He'd always do a fake one.”
Butt argued that there are no secrets in football, as teams can watch games and access data on platforms like WyScout. “It's a bit stupid really. If Southampton need to watch Middlesbrough like this after a full season then the manager and all the recruitment team and all the scouting team should be sacked on the spot. They should know everything about them - there's no secrets in football. They know who's injured, they know who's not injured.”
He dismissed the controversy as “childish” and claimed that any manager calling others cheats over spying is a hypocrite. “But any manager that calls people cheats over it are hypocrites because they're doing exactly the same. Maybe not through their own eyes but through sending other people to watch it.”
