Southampton revival fuels Spors' promotion dream

Southampton technical director Johannes Spors has said the club are still targeting immediate promotion back to the Premier League following Tonda Eckert's impressive start to life in the dugout.

Eckert's run of six wins from his seven games in charge has turned Saints' season around following their disappointing start under Will Still and has delivered a fresh sense of confidence and optimism within St Mary's.

In a wide-ranging BBC interview, Spors has revealed he had interviewed more than 10 candidates to succeed Still before appointing Eckert on a permanent basis but he always believed he would succeed in the job.

"He's definitely a top expert in his tactical knowledge and everything you need on the pitch, but he's also very good in his empathy but also clarity in communicating to the players," Spors told BBC South Today.

"I think this combination is what what makes him being so so good in his job."

Still was sacked at the start of November after just five months in the role with Saints 21st in the Championship table, having taken just 12 points from 13 games.

Under-21 head coach Eckert, who only arrived at the club in July, took over on an interim basis and made an instant impact, winning his first four matches.

He was subsequently named permanent head coach on a contract until 2027 and with two wins following his confirmation has an impressive total of six victories from his seven matches in charge with the only blemish being a narrow defeat at Millwall.

That form has lifted them up to ninth in the table and just one point behind sixth-placed Hull City.

"I worked on two different projects during those weeks, the most important one was to make sure Tonda has all the support that he needs to be good but I also had to make sure that I interview a lot of candidates, and I did," Spors added.

"More than 10 candidates were interviewed by me, with a long list of ideas because here was also always the risk, you know, the rules from the FA are not easy to appoint a young manager who's not English.

"That was a real risk for us, that it just doesn't work out for whatever reason. It can always happen but pretty early I was very convinced that this is the right decision and I'm very happy the whole team made it work."

Saints travel to struggling Norwich City on Saturday and could end the weekend as high as fifth if they take three points and other results go their way.

And Spors said promotion back to the top tier was still very much a goal for the season.

"First of all I think promotion is what motivates everybody here in this football club and I think it would not be honest to define any other goal," he said.

"Tonda is fully aligned with it and it's the target for the players. And it's still what we are fighting for and [in] the last games we see that we can win football games in this league, so it's something I still think is achievable.

"Is it easy? Definitely not, but it's our goal for this season.

"The consequences if we don't achieve it is that we would then try it again, you know, it's not there's no house of cards that is collapsing when we don't get it in this season, absolutely not, there's a lot of stability in this football club and we would try it again."

The picture at St Mary's has changed drastically since the summer, when Still was recruited from Lens in a rebuild after a disastrous Premier League season in which they finished bottom with just 12 points.

But the 33-year-old's tenure came to an abrupt end in November with only two wins from 13 Championship matches.

Spors believes he was not helped by large changes behind the scenes, including a high turnover in playing staff.

"Ultimately it didn't work out for him and it didn't work out for us. So I had to make a decision at some point and you know it's a bit sad that this point was too early in the season, honestly," he said.

"We did 37 player tradings in the summer so the the level of change was very high and I that was difficult to manage and ultimately it didn't [work out].

"He's a great guy he will have a good career but it did not translate on the pitch."