Tonda Eckert & Southampton CEO Phil Parsons have spoken to the BBC ahead of an International break, when the verdict on the incident dubbed Spygate is expected to finally be decided.

The BBC inferred that in the coming days, a decisive Football Association hearing will take place, which will end with the verdict being finally delivered

Speaking to the BBC Sport Phil Parsons set the scene for what is about to play out by stating that any further punishment would be "really tough to take".

Tonda Eckert then had this to say:

"We've talked a lot over the summer of how we want to go through that process of addressing everything, giving everyone the chance to put questions out that are still there, to put out what they feel and have gone through, and then also close the door and move on," he says.

"Because the reality is it's a new season. We have big ambitions as a football club, and in order to reach them, we need to move on.

"I've had the chance to sit down and just talk the FA through everything that happened," he says. "And now it's up to them to make a decision. I don't really have any emotions towards that."

So does he feel the FA has listened to him during its investigation?

"That was my impression," he says. "We sat for almost four hours, so it's been quite a long conversation."

When asked whether he feels the club has been punished enough, and if a suspension for him would be excessive, Eckert chooses his words carefully.

"It's been a big, big punishment," he says. "Absolutely unheard of in the history of sports.

"And it's tough for me to say that because it concerns me. I'm judging on myself, not an outside situation. But I've asked for forgiveness for what I've done. I've apologised publicly.

"I think the punishment has been very hard on the club for the last season. And to go into a new season on minus four. And the rest is not for me to decide."

So it seems that almost 5 months after the allegations reared their ugly head a verdict is about to be reached.

This interview seems to be well orchestrated to let both Southampton FC through Phil Parsons & Tonda Eckert set the scene for what happens next.

There is something strange about the whole affair in my opinion, especially why it has taken so long to get to this point, in complete contrast to the EFL who tore up the rule book and kicked Saints out of the play offs with a haste that left a sour taste in the moth and the words "Kangaroo Court" sprang to mind.

This hasn't been the case with the FA, who seem to be unsure of just what they can do in this situation, Spying is against the rules in the EFL, but only if you do it less than 72 hours before the game itself and in all other competitions under the FA it is not a crime, if Fulham had claimed that Manchester United had spied on them before their game yesterday, the Premier League would have been powerless to take action, but would the FA have then charged United with Bringing the game into disrepute, I very much doubt it.

My first instinct is that a deal has already been done, that the FA want to be seen as doing the right thing and meting out some form of punishment, if that is the case then I would expect it to be something in line with a touchline ban on Eckert, for a fairly short period perhaps 6 months.

But in the past week or so I have heard some worrying things that are coming out of St Mary's, they say loose lips sink ships and more than one person has told me that according to senior figures in the club, that the hearing has been heard and the verdict announced and it is not good.

That both parties agreed to keep the verdict secret until the International break, perhaps because it would be harsh to force Saints to find a replacement during a normal week in a season, so the FA have agreed to schedule it until this 3 week break, to give Saints time to find a replacement.

How accurate this all is, we will find out in the next week or so, but it surprised me that Saints themselves would go to the media ahead of any hearing, something that might not be very helpful to their cause in said hearing.

The only positive would be that if Saints have known for some time of a negative verdict, that they will be in a position where they will have had a plan in place to deal with the situation.

There also seems to have been little talk of the structure of the entire process, back in May we could look at the EFL rulebook and see that they had completely ignored it, here with the FA it has taken so long that it is unclear whether they actually have a process and if they do, whether there is a right of appeal.

One positive coming out though is that the club itself has employed some heavy hitters in the legal battle, something that they didn't do back in May.

Judgement day is almost here, although perhaps it might have already happened, hopefully then we can move forward and concentrate on football.

Via Reuters