Following Sunday’s defeat against Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that they are going to reimburse their fans that were at St James’ Park.
Tottenham were absolutely blown by Newcastle at the weekend, losing 6-1 in what was meant to be a game between two sides that are challenging to finish in the top four.
But after 21 minutes, it was men against boys. Tottenham barely looked like a professional team, let alone one that is hoping to qualify for the Champions League.
Newcastle were outrageous, flying out of the traps to score five goals in 21 minutes. It was staggering – a real statement of intent. Toon fans could not believe what was happening, as each goal was met with more and more laughter and even louder cheers.
But it was a different story up in the away end. Plenty of travelling Spurs fans left midway through the first half, and it was hard to blame them. There team was being torn apart, showing no signs of fight or desire.
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It was euphoria for Newcastle, and embarrassment for Tottenham. They have since sacked caretaker boss Cristian Stellini, and the players have now delivered a statement to the supporers.
Tottenham to reimburse travelling fans that were inside St James’ Park on Sunday
Two days after their humiliation on Tyneside, the Tottenham players have released a group statement to apologise for their performance.
They wrote: “As a squad, we understand your frustration, your anger. It wasn’t good enough. We know words aren’t enough in situations like this but believe us, a defeat like this hurts. We appreciate your support, home and away, and with this in mind we would like to reimburse fans with the cost of their match tickets from St James’ Park. We know this does not change what happened on Sunday and we will give everything to put things right against Manchester United on Thursday evening when, again, your support will mean everything to us. Together – and only together – can we move things forward.”
It felt inevitable that the fans would be reimbursed. It’s the least they can do after offering up such a turgid performance – although a lot of it was down to just how good Newcastle were.
A lot of Tottenham supporters voted with their feet, some were vocal, while others just watched on in horror.
A quick story on a selection of fans who did decide to leave early – a friend text me during the game to say that he was on a train down south. He quickly realised that the group of lads in front of him were Spurs fans who had been at St James’ Park but left early. They were then approached by the ticket inspector, who quickly deduced that they were not on the right train. They were then forced to get off at York. When it rains it pours…