Southampton's Revival at St Mary's: The Impact of Tonda Eckert
The numbers say one thing. The noise says another.
Southampton have taken 47 points at St Mary’s since Tonda Eckert walked into a fractured club in November 2025 – the best home record in the Championship over that spell. Three home games into the new season, three home wins. The table backs him. So does the stadium.
For Eckert, the explanation starts not with tactics or systems, but with something less measurable and far more fragile: connection.
From 21st and broken to a fortress reborn
When the 33-year-old German was promoted from Saints’ U21s to replace the sacked Will Still, Southampton were 21st in the Championship and drifting. The mood in the stands mirrored the league position.
“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,” he told BBC Radio Solent.
It was not just about poor results. Trust had eroded. St Mary’s, usually a tight, unforgiving place for visiting teams, had lost its edge.
“It’s not easy to play home games if you don’t have that connection,” Eckert said. “And rightly so, there was not that connection at that very moment for a variety of things going on.”
The job in front of him was clear and unforgiving: lift the team, heal the relationship, restore belief in a city where football is a weekly heartbeat.
Earning it back
Eckert talks about the bond with supporters not as a given, but as something that has to be won and then defended.
“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 did not flick a switch. He built slowly.
“It’s not one thing that you change. 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.”
The steps have added up. Results at home turned. Performances carried more bite, more purpose. The atmosphere followed.
“St Mary’s just feels completely different than it did a year ago and that is just many, many things coming together,” Eckert said.
The numbers in the stands tell their own story. Even after the chaos of last season’s Spygate scandal, which saw Saints thrown out of the Championship play-offs after Eckert had led them there, supporters did not walk away. Attendances have held around the 30,000 mark heading into the new campaign, keeping Southampton among the top 20 in the country.
Anger flared after the scandal. It did not turn into apathy. That distinction may yet define this era.
Home as the season’s foundation
Eckert is clear about the role St Mary’s must play if Southampton are to drag themselves back to where they believe they belong.
“However, I do believe that to ‘win’ a season, you must play a successful season at home.”
It is not a throwaway line. For a squad still carrying the scars of relegation, scandal and upheaval, a dominant home record offers something concrete: rhythm, confidence, a platform.
Opponents now walk into a ground that feels alive again. The tension that once hung over St Mary’s has been replaced by something more dangerous for visiting sides – expectation.
Jander waits, Wrexham the target
Not everything is in place yet. There are still pieces missing. One of them is Caspar Jander.
The 23-year-old midfielder has yet to feature this season after suffering a quad injury early in the first pre-season game against National League side Eastleigh. Any hopes of rushing him back have been shelved.
Eckert confirmed that Saturday’s match against Bristol City will come “too early” for Jander. The plan is more cautious, more deliberate – a theme that runs through much of what Eckert has done since taking over.
“We’re going to push, so hopefully it’s going to be some minutes against Wrexham (on 19 September). We had to delay a little bit, but I think he’s on a good way now.”
Southampton’s head coach has already turned a restless, disillusioned home crowd into a driving force. If his team keep matching that energy on the pitch, St Mary’s will not just be loud this season. It will be decisive.
