How a Football Club Shouldn't Act During a Global Pandemic, by Tottenham Hotspur

A football club should represent what's great about its community.

A football club needs to lead when times get tough.

A football club needs to know basic morality. Right and wrong. Good and bad. However you want to dress it up.

Over the years, supporting Tottenham has become tinged with embarrassment. Usually that's falling at the penultimate or final hurdle in search of domestic or European glory.

But what there has been in the last few years is the idea that the north London club were going about things 'the right way', in trusting Mauricio Pochettino to nurture young players into first team regulars and regularly finishing near the top of the Premier League table. Never top, but not that far away.

Naturally, there was a massive sense of pride for Tottenham fans in the club's approach. Supporters were united under a messiah-type coach and hopeful for the future.

But this isn't about #MourinhoOut, #PochIn or any other similar sentiment. It's about how a football club should act within its community.

They should be upstanding. They should do everything they can to help those in need, and that should be before the world gets hit with a devastating, unknown disease that brings almost everything to a halt.

Message from the Chairman.
— Tottenham Hotspur (at ) (@SpursOfficial) March 31, 2020

Spurs' decision to furlough non-playing staff by using the government's has rightly been condemned since they made the announcement in late March. That furlough scheme is seen as so toxic for football fans that Liverpool went back on their original decision to use it just days after shocking their supporters by taking the Tories up on it.

Obviously when a club posts profits of nearly £70m for last year and then opts into such a scheme, it's going to be received badly. But there won't be any backtracking from Tottenham. Daniel Levy isn't one for going back on his word, for better or for worse.

And for fans of the club, it's no longer a case of being embarrassed by the 'so near, so far' tag, or even the lazy 'bottlers' slur. Instead, fans are looking at the club and feeling truly shocked and appalled by how it is dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

But only so much can be expected of the head honchos at Tottenham. They are, after all, wired to make as much money as possible, and with that comes cutting expenses at every chance, which is what they've done.

The line between legally fine and morally bankrupt can be quite blurry, but not so much here.

But at least Jose Mourinho's taking the pandemic seriously.


Jose Mourinho organised a training session today for three Spurs stars who live nearby. pic.twitter.com/EHIgYvROVa
— J (@MourinhoPics) April 7, 2020

Oh. There was that as well.

Ok, fine. Maybe the bastard in certain fans might actually appreciate the idea that Mourinho is willing to do everything possible to tighten up what has been a shambolic Spurs side in recent months - admittedly, injuries have played a part, but they've still been...not good.

But really? When official advice is to stay indoors and not make any unnecessary contact with anyone, that's the right time to take players out for a training session at the park?

A football club needs to lead when times get tough.

But the feeling of disgust when thinking about Tottenham isn't comparable to watching them flop out of the Champions League or get humiliated by Norwich in the FA Cup. It's far worse. It's the feeling that morality has been thrown out the window.

Not everyone knows how to run a football club, granted. Not everyone would be able to cope with the pressure of keeping such an institution afloat in such uncertain times, sure.

However, there are better ways to deal with a pandemic, and Tottenham are not standing up for what is right. They can tweet as many games from the 2015/16 or 2016/17 season as they like but, as the more ballsy social media users have been frequently pointing out, that doesn't hide what they've got wrong over the past few weeks.

It's always best to do the right thing at the first opportunity. If not, go back on your word and put it right. But don't leave fans feeling sickened by poor conduct.

Source : 90min