Tottenham players called out for ‘token’ ticket gesture after Newcastle thrashing

Simon Jordan has hit out at Tottenham’s decision to reimburse fans who traveled to Newcastle, calling it ‘a token gesture’.

Spurs supporters were told that they were having their ticket costs refunded following the 6-1 hammering against the Magpies at St James’ Park on Sunday, a match that dealt their hopes of a top four finish a hefty blow.

AFP

A statement on the club’s website from the players said: “As a squad, we understand your frustration, your anger. Sunday 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, starting against Manchester United on Thursday evening when, again, your support will mean everything to us. Together – and only together – can we move things forward.”

But while the gesture will be met with a positive reaction by those who attended the match, Jordan isn’t convinced.

On White And Jordan he said: “I think that fans would much rather see a performance on Thursday than a token gesture and of course people can say ‘like me’. I did it years ago for the Palace fans on behalf of the players because they were dreadful in an away game against Barnsley.

“The Tottenham players, yeah, they’re going to take the head out of the situation. They’re going to turn around and somehow climb away from their performance.

“This wasn’t about Stellini. This isn’t about giving £75,000 back to fans which is going to cost each player £5,000 or £4,000 which is less than 10 per cent of their weekend earnings, this is about playing and performing with a degree of respect for whoever you’re supposed to represent.

“Stellini is academic. That wasn’t about Stellini, it was about them. It was about players like Romero who think they’re too good for it, are above it and think they’re better than they actually are. They’re good players, but they’re not better than they think they are.”

Jordan added: “They were a disgrace on Sunday and giving some money to say they recognise that – great, fantastic, but why were you a disgrace in the first place? Because that’s how you are.

“It’s a nice little side step. It’s a deflection. We’ll pony up for 2500 or 3000 fans at an average ticket price of £25 and it’ll cost us £75,000 between 18 players, that’s £4000 each.

Getty

“We all earn £100,000 a week, take home £60,000 a week and we’ll give them £4000 of our money and everyone will go, ‘it’s commendable – it doesn’t set a great precedent, but it’s commendable’.

“The bottom line is why did they produce that performance?

“Give them their travel money back as well. If you’re going to go into your pockets then go in properly. Each fan must have spent about £200 to go up there, let’s get some proper dough out!”