- Tottenham played their last Premier League match on Sunday
- Now he heads straight to Australia for the friendly against Newcastle
- When you are in the stadium you HAVE to support your own players – Listen to the It’s all starting! podcast
Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham Hotspur stars were filmed flying for their friendly in Australia on Sunday, with the club’s fans criticizing the club when they saw the footage.
Dejan Kulusevski scored twice to help Tottenham claim a 3-0 win against Sheffield United in the final round of the Premier League, ensuring they finished fifth and qualified for the Europa League.
Fans had barely had time to celebrate that milestone when the sight of the stars boarding a plane left them infuriated by the decision to fly the team to Australia for a meaningless friendly against Newcastle just three days after the Premier League concluded.
“A ridiculous schedule, having to fly for a meaningless friendly on the day the season ends,” raged one fan.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou’s stars boarded a plane to Australia just hours after finishing their Premier League season.
Some players, such as James Maddison (pictured), appeared in holiday mode on the flight to Australia and was asked by a fan if he was ‘moving there’ because of all the luggage he was bringing.
“Give these guys a break. Ange is about to interrogate these guys in their home country,” another complained.
“Money is made at the expense of the players’ health,” wrote another fan.
It’s ridiculous that you’re putting players through this. Nothing but greed,” another follower posted.
The decision to bring Spurs to Australia has also been called hypocritical after the club complained about FA Cup replays earlier in the season due to the impact the workload had on player wellbeing.
Spurs’ quest for a ninth FA Cup ended with a 1-0 fourth round defeat at the hands of Manchester City in January.
It came after Tottenham were one of the ‘big six’ clubs who successfully lobbied for FA Cup fifth round replays to be abolished from next season to avoid tiring their players.
There is now pressure to also scrap FA Cup replays from the fourth round, meaning matches will be decided by extra time and penalties rather than replays if there is a draw at the end of normal time.
“I’m too tired to play FA Cup replays but I’ll be flying to Australia several hours after the seasons end,” fired one Spurs fan.
“Ah well, at least you won’t have to play FA Cup replays next season.” You would have been so tired,’ posted another sarcastically.
Even Postecoglou said the friendly was “not ideal” and was unlikely to happen again in the future.
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier (pictured) had previously questioned the scheduling of the friendly after a long spell.
Postecoglou (pictured after Spurs’ win over Sheffield United) agreed that the timing of the friendly is not ideal and said it was unlikely a similar match would be scheduled again.
Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier had also previously criticized the match, calling it “not ideal”, especially with the Euros approaching.
However, while Newcastle will play 50 games this season, Tottenham will end their campaign with 41 games after failing to qualify for Europe and being knocked out of both domestic cups early.
“Our situation is a little different to Newcastle’s,” Postecoglou said when asked about Trippier’s comments.
“They have had a European season, the Champions League, it has been a great season. We have not done that. This exposure is no secret, but also income for us.
“I certainly wouldn’t have allowed this to happen if we were in Europe this year and had a bigger game 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 this will happen.
‘I don’t think it’s ideal. But I think each situation is unique. For us, at the end of our season, playing one more game two days after the end of the season is substantial for us.
“We had a conversation with the playing group early on about this issue. “They understood why we were doing it and we all committed to going and that’s going to happen.”