Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham Hotspur stars were filmed on Sunday as they flew out for their friendly in Australia – and the club’s fans blasted the club when they saw the footage.
Dejan Kulusevski scored twice to help Tottenham secure a 3-0 victory over Sheffield United in the Premier League final round, ensuring they finish fifth and qualify for the Europa League.
Fans had barely had time to celebrate the development when the sight of the stars boarding a plane left them angry about the decision to bring the team from Down Under for a meaningless friendly against Newcastle just three days after the conclusion of the Premier League.
“Ridiculous schedule, having to fly for a meaningless friendly match on the day the season ends,” fumed one fan.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou’s stars boarded a plane to Australia just hours after their Premier League season ended.
Some players, like James Maddison (pictured), appeared in vacation mode on the flight to Australia, with one fan asking if he was “moving there” because of all the baggage he had brought.
“Give these guys a break. Ange is about to roast these guys in his home country,” another complained.
“Making money at the expense of players’ health,” another fan wrote.
“Ridiculous that you put players through this. Nothing but greed,” another supporter posted.
The decision to bring Spurs to Australia was also branded hypocritical after the club complained about FA Cup replays earlier in the season due to the impact of workload on welfare players.
Spurs’ quest for a ninth FA Cup ended with a 1-0 fourth round defeat to Manchester City in January.
This came after Tottenham became one of the ‘big six’ clubs who successfully lobbied for FA Cup fifth round replays to be abolished from next season in order to avoid fatigue their players.
There is now pressure for FA Cup replays to also be removed from the fourth round, meaning matches will be decided by extra time and penalties rather than a replay of matches in the event of a draw at the end of the round. regulation time.
“Too tired to watch FA Cup replays but will fly to Australia several hours after the season ends,” said one Spurs fan.
“Well, at least you won’t have to replay FA Cup replays next season. You would have been so tired,” another posted sarcastically.
Even Postecoglou said that this friendly match was “not ideal” and that it was unlikely to happen again in the future.
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier (pictured) had already questioned the friendly schedule just after a long season
Postecoglou (pictured after Spurs’ win over Sheffield United) agreed the timing of the friendly was not ideal and said a similar game was unlikely to be scheduled again.
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier had also previously criticized the match, also calling it “not ideal”, especially with the European Championship approaching.
However, while Newcastle will play 50 games this season, Tottenham will end their campaign with 41 matches after failing to qualify for Europe and being eliminated early from both domestic cups.
“Our situation is a little different to Newcastle,” Postecoglou said when asked about Trippier’s comments.
“They had a European season, a Champions League, it was a big season. We didn’t do it. It’s not a secret for us, but also income.
“I definitely wouldn’t have allowed that to happen if we were in Europe this year and had a bigger match schedule. I probably would have said no.
“And I don’t think the club would have expected us to go. If we are in Europe next year, I don’t think that will happen.
“I don’t think it’s ideal. But I think every situation is unique. For us, after our season, playing one more match two days after the end of the season, that has content for us.
“We discussed it very early with the playing group. They understood why we were doing it and we were all committed to going for it and it’s going to happen.