If Southampton Appoint Eckert Backroom Recruitment Will Be Essential Monday, 24th Nov 2025 09:31 After the win at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, Tonda Eckert taking the Saints manager's job on a full time basis suddenly looked a viable option, however after the departure of Paul Trollope, the coaching staff looks rather thin on the ground and will need revamping. This weekend saw two key events in what will lead up to the appointment of will Still's successor on a permanent basis. The first was not the win at Charlton, but the news on Friday that Assistant manager Paul Trollope had left the club to join Rob Edwards at Wolverhampton Wanderers, the two had worked together before at Luton Town. But this was not the only changes in the Saints backroom staff, Adam Lallana will move into the U21 managers seat on an interim basis, that leaves Eckert with Jeremy Newton, Ben Reeves, Ryan Flood and analyst Albert Jones to assist him.
Those that point to a lack of experience of Eckert himself as a coach at this level as a stumbling block to his appointment will point to this as another reason why he should not be appointed. Jeremy Newton is a name that few will know, he has worked under Eckert in the U21's as Player Transition Coach, whatever that means, the 47 year old has worked his way up the ranks at St Mary's from U16 coach over the past few years, he seems to have worked at Swindon Town as academy manager for a number of years and also a player for Aylesbury United in non league football, Albert Jones has also worked with Eckert as his analyst at U21 level. level.
Ben Reeves will be remembered by older Saints supporters, he made a few appearances for the club in 2011-12, including a sub appearance at Everton in the Premier League, being a left back his career at St Mary's was effectively ended in that Luke Shaw was breathing down his neck and was a first team regular early in the 2012/13 season. He has had a long career in the lower leagues and retired from playing at the end of 2023/24 season at Eastleigh to join the Southampton coaching set up, again he has limited coaching experience, just a year in the U21 set up. Ryan Flood was the U21 goalkeeping coach and he has a bit more experience, he has been at St Mary's for a while and was loaned out to Dundee United 3 years ago to gain him more experience at professional level. So overall this week we have seen the only two coaches who have real playing experience leave the first team bench and replaced by those with limited playing and coaching experience. These are all being cited as interim appointments, so there is no need to press the panic button just yet.
However most would feel that it would be folly to let Tonda Eckert have the job without at least one experienced man beside him, certainly this was the club's view back in the summer when Will Still was appointed, Paul Trollope was brought in alongside Adam Lallana. But it appears that for one reason or another Still did not gel with his two senior coaches, he did not seem to seek their opinions or use them as a sounding board during games, he was a lone figure and it has to be said, this must have been a big factor in our loss of form and a lack of ideas from the manager. Did Still see these two as men who wanted the job themselves and therefore kept them at arms length, again a lack of confidence in Still to back himself. The same mistake must not be made, we need to appoint someone with experience to work with Tonda Eckert. perhaps even two men, but they need to be chosen carefully. The problem though is that Eckert I would imagine does not know too many people at this level, like Still he would have to accept someone the club has chosen, rather than one of his own men. Most football clubs when they appoint a manager allow him to bring in those he has worked with in the past, they recognise that his previous success would have been a team effort from the coaching staff and not just one man. It could be said that Eckert's success has been achieved with his own men, those that he has worked with in the U21 set up, that does have some milage, but the fact is that none of them have any experience above academy level. So who could Saints appoint as Eckert's assistant, it would need to be someone who has no ambition's to be a manager himself and is happy to be assistant, but how do you know whether he is on the same wavelength as Eckert both in football philosophy and more importantly on a personal level. Nothing at Southampton Football Club is ever a simple decision ! All Photos Via Reuters Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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