Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust publish missing text after meeting with Spurs hierarchy

The Spurs fan group met with the club’s hierarchy but were left frustrated by what they were able to say after the meeting

Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust were left frustrated by what they were unable to publish from their meeting with the club’s hierarchy earlier this month so have released their version of events.

Dissatisfaction with the club is bubbling over among the fanbase with Spurs sitting 16th in the Premier League, just five points off the drop zone, and having sacked Thomas Frank after just seven months at the helm. The Dane was brought in amid much fanfare about competing in all competitions after Ange Postecoglou was himself sacked, having won the club’s first trophy in 17 years.

The north London club have not competed in all competitions and have now appointed Igor Tudor as interim head coach until the end of the season with the Croatian taking his first training session on Monday afternoon.

Trust chair Michael Green headed up a four-strong group of fans that presented the findings of the trust’s most recent Five Principles of Ownership survey, with approximately 4,500 supporters participating, to Tottenham CEO Vinai Venkatesham, chief communications officer Kate Miller and other members of staff at the meeting.

However, the trust released a statement on Monday expressing their dissatisfaction at the eventual agreed minutes of the meeting which took place on February 3 at the club’s Lilywhite House headquarters alongside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They released some commentary of the passages that were left out of the meeting minutes.

“There were a number of specific points raised during the meeting which the club did not agree to include in the final published version, despite our request,” read the trust statement. “As a democratic supporters’ organisation elected to represent fans’ views, we believe it is vital that supporters can see what issues are being raised with the club, how those issues are being discussed and what responses are being given.

“Publishing a full record of the points raised helps ensure accountability and allows members, and the wider fan base, to understand how the Trust is fulfilling its role on their behalf. Transparency is integral to our role and in our dealings with the club. For that reason, we are also publishing below the paragraphs which THST asked to be included in the Minutes but which were not accepted by the Club for inclusion in the final version.

“Points omitted from the Minutes – Under THSTs Five Principles of Ownership survey. Lines not included – The Club declined to include the descriptions of our Five Principles of Ownership.

“Paragraph not included – Fans are concerned at the current position and the direction of the club. The team is not winning, and change is not visible. Having watched just four home league wins in a year, this anxiety and pessimism is not surprising. Fans are genuinely concerned at the risk of relegation. The belief generated by the Europa League win has now been lost. Fans are concerned at a perceived lack of ambition and at results, performances and the failure to strengthen the team despite injuries to key first team players.

“Paragraph not included – The club had not filed financial statements demonstrating that it was able to generate profit since 2018 and needed the cash generated by the share issue for cashflow purposes (this point was discussed later in the meeting under the heading “Finance”).

“Under Future-proof success & Young player development – Paragraph not included – THST observed that young players were not coming through from the Academy to the first team. Players are on loan repeatedly. Despite injuries and the current shortage of players, Luka Vuskovic had not been recalled from loan and nor had other players.

“Paragraph not included – THST said fans want to see authenticity to stick to Spurs’ DNA and a style of play that transcended as a ‘golden thread’ from the youth system right through to the men’s first team.

“Paragraph not included – THST noted a slightly higher sentiment from supporters towards sustainability, which may reflect the underlying infrastructure possessed by the club. However, this alone will not make the club successful which explains why the score remains low overall.

“Fans First and relationship between the club and supporters. Line not included – The club welcomed the input of THST.

“Paragraph not included – THST asked to see the underlying KPIs behind each of the strategic principles – these had not yet been agreed by the club internally. THST stated that the detail of these KPIs were important. If the strategic objectives were geared towards winning trophies, this should be directly referenced in the KPIs.

“If, however, the KPIs referenced “European qualification” (a stated desire of the previous leadership), this could suggest that the club was prioritising financial performance over football performance.”

The published minutes from the meeting can be found by heading right here.