Tottenham’s tumultuous week has taken another twist after the club and boss Thomas Frank were accused of showing a “dramatic fall in ambition” by fans.
Members of Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust met with senior club representatives on Friday to discuss concerns among fans.
It has been a nightmare week for Spurs, with the contentious sale of last season’s leading scorer Brennan Johnson last Friday followed by fellow right winger Mohammed Kudus being injured two days later and ruled out until April.
Frank was again booed after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland, but worse occurred on Wednesday at Bournemouth.
Tottenham conceded in stoppage time to slip to a 3-2 loss and drop to 14th in the Premier League and Frank’s misery was compounded when he inadvertently used a coffee cup with the badge of rivals Arsenal on it.
Hours later captain Cristian Romero took aim at unspecified senior figures at the club when he claimed “other people” should be speaking but “they only show up when things are going well.”
Thomas Frank has failed to impress at Tottenham. Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
The supporters’ trust has now demanded action, saying in a statement: “The THST board has been engaged with the senior leadership of the football club throughout recent weeks and months and has repeatedly raised supporters’ concerns with them.
“Whilst we acknowledge the changes in personnel behind the scenes at the club, this has regrettably not been matched with improvements on the pitch.
“There also appears to be a dramatic fall in ambition for the football club, as evidenced by the transfer window to date and repeated statements by Thomas Frank, reminding supporters that the club finished 17th in the Premier League last season, that the club is only participating in the Champions League through winning the Europa League, and that Bournemouth [a side without a win in 11 games] are ‘always a difficult team’ and that he is ‘not enjoying the job.’
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“Supporters have suffered the embarrassment of players directly confronting them for exercising their right to express themselves, of the club captain publicly calling out ‘other people’ at the club who do not speak except ‘to tell a few lies’, and of the manager being photographed drinking from an Arsenal cup apparently unaware that he was doing so.
“Whilst these incidents may have explanations that we could understand and even sympathise with, they demonstrate a lack of understanding and a lack of care about the perception of the football club.”
The supporters’ trust said fans needed to “hear directly from the club leadership the ambition for the football club for this season, for next season and for the foreseeable future” and stressed “all the stops need to be pulled out” in this month’s transfer window to show Tottenham are “a serious football club.”
Per ESPN sources, Spurs had an opening bid in the region of €13 million ($15.13m) rejected for Santos defender Souza but have returned with an improved offer.
PA has contacted Tottenham for comment on the supporters’ trust statement.
Information from ESPN’s James Olley contributed to this report.
