Everything That Has Gone Wrong for Tottenham in Lockdown
By Tom Gott
The Premier League has been paralysed by fear ever since the coronavirus pandemic took over. It's been a tough time for every club, but nobody has had it worse than Tottenham Hotspur.
Ever since football was postponed and the UK was sent into lockdown, it has often felt like Spurs can't go two minutes without being in the public eye for the wrong reasons. Well, that's because they can't.
Here, 90min takes a look at everything that has gone wrong for José Mourinho's side in lockdown.
1. Furlough Fury
Spurs are run like a business. Daniel Levy's focus is on making profit, and he's incredible at that side of his job. The club regularly turns hefty profits, so it came as a surprise when they tried to cut the wages of their non-playing staff while football was postponed.
Fans of rival clubs were in shock and even some Spurs supporters could not cope with the idea that the same club which had just made a £69m profit over the last year couldn't afford to pay its staff.
They eventually backtracked on these plans, but that only limited the damage of the move.
2. Harry Kane Flirts With an Exit
When you've been having a tough year and you're already faced with the prospect of missing out on European football, what's the last thing you want to hear from your star player?
If you said 'an interest in leaving', give yourself a pat on the back.
That's exactly what striker Harry Kane offered up in March, insisting that he wouldn't hang around if he felt the club were moving in the wrong direction.
Spurs finished second in 2016/17, third in 2017/18, fourth in 2018/19 and entered the lockdown in eighth. That sounds like the wrong direction to me.
3. Mourinho's Cheeky Jog
By the time April arrived, the UK was in lockdown. Unless you were going to work or exercising alone, you weren't to leave the house.
Mourinho didn't get the memo.
The boss invited Tanguy Ndombele, Moussa Sissoko and Ryan Sessegnon out for a little jog, despite that being an obvious breach of the rules. Nice one.
4. Serge Aurier's Reign of Terror Begins
Lockdown has been bad for everyone at Spurs, but Serge Aurier has made things infinitely worse.
Around the same time as Mourinho's excursion, the right-back was also caught out for a jog with a friend, which also went against the government's safety advice.
It's not the last we'll see of Aurier here.
5. Aurier Doesn't Learn His Lesson
You might have let Aurier off for that first breach. Perhaps he just didn't understand the rules. Spurs took that approach and reminded him of the regulations, but that didn't help.
A few weeks later, Aurier posted a video of himself training alongside fellow serial offender Sissoko, which was as much of a breach as his first infringement.
Would he finally learn his lesson? Well...
6. Aurier Gets a Haircut
Right, this is getting silly now. After being reminded twice not to do anything stupid, Aurier went and did something stupid.
He dropped himself in it by posting a picture of himself after a haircut, flouting social distancing guidelines for the third time. When it was pointed out to him that what he had done was dangerous, Aurier responded "Bla-bla-bla".
As you can imagine, Spurs were... unimpressed.
7. Positive Diagnosis
No jokes about this one. One person at Spurs was found to have contracted coronavirus in early June, which obviously is a scary situation in the middle of a pandemic.
Fortunately, it looks like everyone involved is safe and healthy.
8. Applying for a Loan
Aaaand back to the jokes.
Spurs again became a laughing stock when reports emerged stating that they needed a £175m bank loan to help them cover the cost of the coronavirus outbreak.
That came while Chelsea were busy splashing the cash on Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner, so rival fans had a field day on social media. Even Arsenal fans came in for a pop, which would have been funnier if the Gunners weren't actually behind Spurs in the table.
9. Dele Alli's Ban
Just a bazillion months after the incident in question, Dele Alli was hit with a one-game ban from the FA for an insensitive comment during the early stages of the outbreak.
Back in February, the Englishman appeared to mock an Asian man during a Snapchat video, and it apparently took the FA four months to decide that was not alright.
He'll miss an upcoming clash with Manchester United of all teams. Not ideal.
10. Losing to Norwich
We beat @SpursOfficial 2-1 in a behind-closed-doors friendly this afternoon! ?
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) June 12, 2020
Erik Lamela put the hosts ahead but we responded with goals from Josip Drmic and Mario Vrancic to win ?
Right, football is coming back and teams are playing friendly games. Surely Spurs can get things back on track?
Nope.
They threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to Norwich City in their first 'pre-season' friendly, which will surely fill fans with confidence. I mean, losing to the division's bottom side is hardly the best way to prepare yourself for a push for European football.