St Mary’s Transformation: From Flat to Fortress Under Eckert

At St Mary’s, the noise tells its own story.

A year ago, Southampton were flat, frayed and sitting 21st in the Championship. The mood in the stands matched the table. Will Still had gone, the club looked adrift, and a rookie head coach was promoted from within and handed the mess.

Now, under 33-year-old Tonda Eckert, St Mary’s has become a fortress.

Since his appointment in November 2025, Saints have taken 47 points at home – the best record in the Championship over that period – and opened the new campaign with three straight wins on their own turf. The numbers are clear enough. The explanation, in Eckert’s eyes, is even simpler.

Connection.

“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 raw, and it was fragile. “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.”

The German has never tried to gloss over that. He walked into a stadium carrying the weight of anger, fatigue and mistrust – and then watched the situation explode again when Southampton were thrown out of last season’s Championship play-offs in the wake of the Spygate scandal.

For many clubs, that would have been the breaking point between pitch and stands. At St Mary’s, something different happened.

Crowds have held around the 30,000 mark heading into this season, keeping Saints among the top 20 attendances in the country. The hurt did not evaporate, but the supporters stayed. That loyalty has given Eckert a platform – and a responsibility.

“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.

He talks about “earning” that right, not assuming it. No grand gestures, no overnight fixes. Just work.

“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.”

Those steps have been visible. A more aggressive, front-foot style at home. Players lingering on the pitch after games. Staff and squad pushing the message that St Mary’s is a place to come and suffer if you are the away side, not the home one.

The atmosphere has shifted. So has the language around the club.

“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 stadium that once felt anxious now leans forward when Southampton attack. Groans have turned into a roar that drags the team through tight spells. Opponents know they are walking into something hostile again.

Eckert is clear on what that must mean over a full campaign.

“I do believe that to ‘win’ a season, you must play a successful season at home.”

For him, the route out of the division runs through SO14. Dominate at St Mary’s, and everything else follows.

Injuries, though, still cut across the best-laid plans. As Southampton prepare to host Bristol City on Saturday, Eckert confirmed that the game has come “too early” for midfielder Caspar Jander.

The 23-year-old has yet to feature this season after picking up a quad injury early in the first pre-season outing against National League side Eastleigh. His absence has forced tweaks in midfield, another test of the squad’s depth and Eckert’s adaptability.

The tone around Jander is cautiously upbeat. “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,” Eckert said.

So the wait goes on for Jander’s return. The wait for a flat St Mary’s, though, might be over. The ground feels alive again, and Eckert knows exactly what that kind of noise can do to a Championship season.