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Sam Parkin believes that though Southampton‘s interim manager Tonda Eckert has some things in his favour, appointing him as the permanent manager would be ‘hell of a gamble’ for Saints.
Southampton, having ambitions to play in the Premier League next season, parted ways with manager Will Still following a poor start to the season.
While the search to find a permanent successor goes on, 32-year-old Eckert has been given the role on an interim basis.
Eckert was not part of the team that Still brought with him to Southampton and was chosen by the club hierarchy for the Under-21 team.
Now in the absence of a permanent replacement for Still, he has taken charge of two games and has won both of them, giving Southampton a real boost and boosting his own hopes of holding onto the position.
The case for Eckert taking the role on a permanent basis is growing and would grow even further if he continues to deliver wins for Southampton.
Former EFL star Adrian Clarke has warned Saints against falling into the trap of making the interim boss the permanent manager and now former Championship striker Parkin has echoed that sentiment.
Parkin does though believe that there are factors speaking for Eckert.
| Club | Country |
|---|---|
| 1. FC Koln | Germany |
| Bayern Munich | Germany |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Austria |
| Barnsley | England |
| Genoa | Italy |
| Southampton | England |
“Tonda Eckert – one thing you can certainly say, despite the opposition probably not being of the highest level is that he has won two games – QPR, who have been in freefall and obviously against Sheffield Wednesday at home”, Parkin said on EFL All Access (34.49).
“But the players are fighting tooth and nail for the interim manager.
“And the other thing going in his favour I think is that he was a club appointment. This wasn’t someone that Will Still brought in.
“This is someone that externally was felt to have been able to bring something to the club. And plucked and brought in and given a really good position at Southampton.
“So, he seems to have a lot of things or a couple of things very much in his favour.
“But still I think when you think of what the hope would have been and what the expectation among the supporters would have been, which would have been automatic promotion, hell of a gamble, especially with so much of the season still to go.”
Eckert is now preparing Southampton for a run of crunch games which may well provide a more acid test of his managerial skills.
Saints head to Charlton Athletic, before then hosting Leicester City and travelling to Millwall for their final game in November.
