Eckert Emphasizes Connection as Key to Southampton's Home Success
Tonda Eckert leans on one word to explain Southampton’s revival at St Mary’s: connection.
The 33-year-old German, promoted from the club’s U21s to replace the sacked Will Still in November 2025, walked into a club sitting 21st in the Championship and a stadium running cold. Since then, St Mary’s has turned hostile – for opponents.
Southampton have collected 47 points at home under Eckert, the best record in the Championship over that period, and have opened the new campaign with three straight wins on their own pitch.
“You know the condition the club was in when I came in and you know the condition our supporters were in the moment I came in,” Eckert told BBC Radio Solent. “It’s not easy to play home games if you don’t have that connection. And rightly so, there was not that connection at that very moment for a variety of things going on.”
He didn’t try to shortcut it. He couldn’t. The mood had curdled after a bruising spell on and off the pitch, and Saints’ new head coach knew he had to earn every decibel.
“Then you need to earn that right to connect again to the supporters, to the city, because it means so much more, the football, to the city of Southampton,” he said.
From Spygate fallout to a rebuilt fortress
Eckert still managed to haul Southampton into the Championship play-offs last season, only for the campaign to implode in extraordinary fashion when the club was thrown out following the Spygate scandal. Anger flared, fingers pointed, and the sense of injustice hung heavy.
Yet the stands did not empty.
Despite the fury and disappointment, attendances have stayed around the 30,000 mark heading into the new season, keeping Saints among the top 20 best-supported clubs in the country. The numbers tell their own story: the connection Eckert talks about is fragile, but real.
“It’s not one thing that you change,” he said. “There are so many small steps that you need to take to earn the trust and build on a connection and build a relationship back up.
“St Mary’s just feels completely different than it did a year ago and that is just many, many things coming together.
“However, I do believe that to ‘win’ a season, you must play a successful season at home.”
The message is clear. Promotion pushes and title races might be decided in tense away grounds in March and April, but Eckert wants opponents to feel beaten the moment they see the St Mary’s tunnel.
Jander still sidelined, Wrexham the new target
Not everything is falling into place just yet. In midfield, Eckert will again be without Caspar Jander for Saturday’s game against Bristol City. The 23-year-old has not featured this season after suffering a quad injury early in Saints’ first pre-season outing against National League side Eastleigh.
For Bristol City, it comes as a boost. For Southampton, it’s another test of depth.
Eckert admits the visit of City has come “too early” for the German midfielder, but there is finally a date in mind.
“We’re going to push, so hopefully it’s going to be some minutes against Wrexham (on 19 September),” he said. “We had to delay a little bit, but I think he’s on a good way now.”
So the equation is simple. The head coach wants his crowd loud, his home record intact, and his squad edging back towards full strength. If St Mary’s keeps roaring like this, how far can that connection carry Southampton this season?
