Despite a dismal 2024/25 campaign that saw Southampton finish 20th in the Premier League with 12 points, there was an optimism that newly-appointed and highly-rated English manager Will Still would be able to guide the Saints back to the top flight.
Beating Wrexham on the opening day and clinching an impressive point away at Ipswich the following weekend, Southampton's start to the season was one of promise, but they would go on to win just one of their next 11 Championship games and Still's time at the club was cut short after a dismal 2-0 defeat at home to Preston North End on 2nd November 2025.
While Still joined the club with a reasonable reputation off the back of impressive spells with Ligue 1 sides Reims and Lens, he boasted very little experience in the EFL, and suggestions that the club were going to appoint someone with even less managerial experience was unsurprisingly met with confusion at the time, especially given their significantly underwhelming league position.
Then 32-year-old Tonda Eckert was appointed on an interim basis after joining to manage the Saints' U21s only four months prior, and his start to life at St Mary's made it hard for the club's higher-ups to look elsewhere when it came to hiring Still's successor.
Southampton defeated QPR 2-1 in Eckert's first game as the interim head coach, before emerging victorious against Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic and Leicester City to take a maximum 12 points from his first four games in charge.
Despite a 3-2 defeat to Millwall on 29th November, the Saints demonstrated their belief in the German by announcing him as the club's permanent manager on 5th December.
Wins over Birmingham City and West Brom catapulted Southampton into the top half of the Championship standings, but they would fail to win any of their next seven second tier outings and questions were raised as to whether the club had rushed into appointing Eckert on a permanent basis.
Since losing 2-1 to Hull City on 17th January however, the Saints have enjoyed a 13-game unbeaten run in the Championship, more recently securing crucial wins over Coventry City and Wrexham to put them in contention for a play-off spot.
Only Coventry have accumulated more points (56) than Southampton (54) since Eckert's arrival, while no team has scored more goals than Southampton's 55 since Matchweek 14.
If you were to extrapolate Southampton's return of 54 points in 27 games across an entire 46-match campaign, they would amass 92 points, which would be enough to secure a top two finish in seven of the last 10 Championship seasons.
They're relishing quite the FA Cup run too, beating Premier League leaders Arsenal in the quarter-finals to book their spot at Wembley, where they will face Manchester City.
Championship table since Tonda Eckert's appointment
Table since 4th November 2025 (Matchweek 14 - Matchweek 41):
Played: | Won: | Drawn: | Lost: | GD: | Points: | |
1 - Coventry City | 28 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 56 |
2 - Southampton | 27 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 25 | 54 |
3 - Ipswich Town | 26 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 22 | 52 |
4 - Norwich City | 28 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 50 |
5 - Millwall | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 48 |
