Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert says he is “grateful” to have kept his job in the wake of the Spygate scandal but says the public’s impression of events differs from reality.

Saints were expelled from the Championship play-offs in May despite beating Middlesbrough in the semi-finals after being found guilty of spying on Boro while they were training.

They were also found to have spied on rivals on two other occasions and Eckert is currently awaiting the result of a Football Association investigation after being charged with misconduct for his role in the affair.

“The owner has the right to take consequences,” Eckert told a fans’ forum hosted by BBC Radio Solent.

“At that time it would have been right for me to accept they would go in a different direction.”

The German accused sections of the media of making him look worse than reality, but thanked Southampton’s owner Dragan Solak for not being “swayed by public opinion”.

Solak said in June he would not sack Eckert and the businessman was pictured in Germany with the squad during a pre-season training camp at the end of last month.

“There has been a lot out in the media and I haven’t done a lot of interviews,” Eckert said.

“There has been an image created that I think is very far away from the truth.

“If you have a chance to look behind the curtain, the image looks very different. It means a lot that the owner wasn’t swayed by public opinion but looked at what actually happened.

“He [Solak] has taken his decision and I am very grateful for that.”