In a surprise post on social media platform X The Daily Echo's Saints reporter Alfie House made a very cryptic statement about the Southampton squad, hinting at a division in the dressing room.

Earlier in the season a rumour did the rounds that a Championship club captain had took the unprecedented step of going to his club's board and complaining about the manager and his methods, their were many Saints fans who claimed that Southampton FC that was the club in question.

When Will Still was sacked a few weeks later, that only fuelled this rumour.

Initially after the success of Tonda Eckert it seemed that the corner had been turned and that all was united in the St Mary's dressing room, that the club's players were all behind Tonda Eckert.

However recent results have suggested otherwise and the appalling collapse at Middlesbrough shows a complete lack of leadership on the pitch, although Tonda Eckert's selections of late of certain players and positions had looked strange.

So yesterday's social media post from Alfie House has opened a can of worms, the Echo reporter had this to say.

"In an ideal summer 2026, I'd enthusiastically keep Charles, Jander, Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, Robinson and Armstrong. I'd hang on to Quarshie, Edwards and Wood. Roerslev if fit. I think I'd replace everyone else. Complete culture reset. Probably impossible though."

Very strange sentiments with the very cryptic statement at the end about a "Complete Reset"

Whilst I would say that this was probably not a comprehensive list of those that House would keep, that there would have been a few omissions, mainly youngsters like Cameron Bragg & other fringe players, but it was the number of senior players missing from that list that was surprising.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jack Stephens, Flynn Downes, Ryan Manning, all mainstays of the promotion side of two years ago are significantly not named in the list.

The inference from Alfie House is that there is a culture issue, a clique of players who are running their own agendas.

Interestingly enough I had heard something similar last week, although not from someone who is within the club or had spoken to a player first hand, so not from the horses mouth so to speak, but I was told that there was clique of players that had loved working under Russell Martin, they loved his training methods, days off etc.

My source also claimed he has been told that this clique is only interested in playing the Russell Martin way as it is less physically demanding. That since his departure they are only interested in going through the motions and know that whilst they remain in the Championship, they will remain Saints players.

Amazingly they went on to say that these players had only put in the effort to get Tonda Eckert the job, as they think they can manipulate and influence him and that having got Saints into a mid table position and Eckert the job, they are now just going through the motions.

When I heard that last week, I have to admit I was very sceptical, perhaps I am naïve, but I thought that we had an honest set of players and that whatever gripes they may have, they would put in the effort when on the pitch.

I also had to balance up where this was coming from, as It was not from a usual source and I prefer to only publish things that I can see have substance.

However Alfie House's revelation seems to be backing up the information I was given last week, although so far at least House himself hasn't written a full piece in the Daily Echo backing up his claims on X with more substance.

I have said this on more than one occasion, when rumours abound about the club, those that cover it for the local media ie The Daily Echo & the BBC South etc usually have a good handle on it, they have the inside contacts, they will be given snippets from those within the club that they want put out.

Sometimes that comes from players who want away or have a gripe and sometimes it is from within those running the club.

So for Alfie House to put something like this out on X is either because he is being briefed by the club, in which case they will sit back or this is something that they do want public and if that is the case, House is on very stony ground, he would find it difficult to get access to the club in the future and worse still, he and the paper could be banned from covering the club's matches, at least officially, this has happened before, the last time under Nicola Cortese.

So at the moment the source that has lead House to do so is unclear, it could be:

A. Johannes Spors and his board, who can see what is happening and want to set the scene for Eckert to revamp the squad and clear out those that are counter productive.

Likewise they want someone neutral to reveal that the issues we have are not just about Sport Republic or the Managers tactics.

If this is the case then the club will sit back and say little perhaps even nothing.

B. It is coming from someone in the camp who is not part of this so called clique and wants this to be known, however if this is the case, House is on dodgy ground with the club, but perhaps not too dodgy.

C. House is working from rumours and doesn't feel confident enough to put his name to an article, he is just throwing hand grenades out there to see what happens.

This is the extremely dodgy ground for House and I don't believe that he would do this without some substance.

I think that the most likely scenario is A, that House has been briefed by the club, he has opted for a soft landing via X, so it looks like he is working from info from someone within the club, but not the board.

Sport Republic are not very popular at the moment, he and does not want to be seen as a patsy for the club and for that matter the club would not want to be seen as mounting a PR campaign.

This is not a criticism of Alfie House, this is how it works as the local hack covering a football club, it is important to maintain a good relationship with the club you are covering, yes sometimes you have to put out something the club doesn't like, but in the main you have to tread a fine line.

You slag off a player in print and you could find yourselves blanked by the whole squad, you slag off the club you could get banned, worst scenario the club doesn't ban the local paper, it just bans you as an individual, then you are at danger of being moved from your job on covering Saints and to another area in the paper, losing a great little job.

So as I say, I think House is getting briefed here by the club, if he isn't then he is going to be persona non gratis around St Mary's not just from the manager & club hierarchy, but the squad itself.

The problem for Southampton FC is that this is not an issue that they can sort out this season, those players mentioned who were not on House's keep at the club list, are all on good contracts that they would not get elsewhere, they are not going anywhere.

The scene is being set that Tonda Eckert has to make drastic changes to weed out those who are counter productive, but they can't be shifted out this transfer window, I would not be surprised to see some surprise omissions from the squad against Doncaster, but not just that fixture but also for the subsequent games after that.

We will see how the club reacts, we will see how the manager reacts and we will see how certain players react.

But make no bones about this social media post, the message is that the squad is being run by certain players, that needs to change and the manager and club are going to deal with it, but that will probably cost us promotion this season, but better to do it now that let it fester any longer.

All Photos Via Reuters