Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen has urged fans to “stop socialising” in order to help slow the spread of the virus that has seen football suspended and thousands lose their lives. A video message featuring the Belgian was posted via the club’s official Twitter account.
At the time of the league’s suspension, the Lilywhites were in the eighth position, seven points behind Chelsea who currently occupy the fourth UEFA Champions League qualification spot. However, the competition will not resume unless it is deemed safe by the authorities. The sooner people follow the government’s guidelines, the sooner things can get back to normal.
Many of the club’s supporters have been unhappy with Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to furlough 550 members of staff in order to cope with the financial impact of this health crisis and some fans have made no secret of that in their replies.
#WeAreOneTeam that doesn’t pay its staff….
— Trevor Lloyd (@Trevorlloyd92) April 10, 2020
One team that doesn’t include the non playing staff obviously.
— ENIC OUT PAUL (@paulyboym1) April 10, 2020
— Fay (@winksywine) April 10, 2020
Doesn’t feel like it#ENIC doesn’t care about their staff or their fans (‘CUSTOMERS’)
— SpursSignSomeoneGoodInSummer (@SpursTransfer10) April 10, 2020
Are Spurs wrong to furlough 550 members of non-playing staff?
Yes
No
tell that to the owner and the chairman
— dan (@dangreasby) April 10, 2020
TELL THAT TO THE OWNER
— Ryan Matthews (@Ryan_Matt98) April 10, 2020
What do we think?
As you can tell from the above responses, many fans were irritated by the #WeAreOneTeam given the club’s stance regarding the payment of their non-playing staff. Liverpool also announced they would be taking a similar approach recently but have since reversed their decision following the criticism they faced.