Tottenham players discuss fan disconnect as ‘critical issue’ in team meeting
Exclusive: Players, understood to be upset by jeering of Vicario, have decided to leave pitch together and do not applaud supporters at end
By Matt Law, Sam Wallace
3 min. read
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Tottenham Hotspur players have a half-time discussion during the defeat by Fulham on Saturday night Credit: Action Images /Matthew Childs
Matt Law Football News Correspondent.
Sam Wallace Chief Football Writer
30 November 2025 5:13pm GMT
Tottenham Hotspur players discussed in detail their disconnect with the club’s fans in a team meeting and the issue is now viewed as critical within the squad.
Pedro Porro made his anger public on Sunday, as he hit out at the
Spurs supporters who booed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario during
Saturday’s defeat by Fulham.
And
Telegraph Sport can reveal that the subject of Spurs supporters was the key theme in a players’ meeting following the defeat by Chelsea on November 1. At the end of the game, Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence could not hide their displeasure with some fans and walked straight off the pitch.
While the incident was
viewed by many as the players snubbing head coach Thomas Frank, it was explained by the players that they were reacting to the fans booing.
The Spurs players have adopted a new convention where they gather together in the centre circle at the end of the first half and leave the pitch together. It is believed they feel it demonstrates their solidarity regardless of the atmosphere inside the stadium. The Spurs players do not walk around the pitch at the end of the game applauding the support, as is the custom at some clubs.
Spurs players are said to have spoken their minds about their feelings concerning the fans, who jeered Vicario following his mistake that resulted in Fulham’s second goal in Saturday night’s 2-1 defeat. Later, a successful clearance by Vicario was cheered ironically by some elements of the fanbase.
Post-match footage of Porro on Saturday night appeared to show him unhappy with team-mate Lucas Bergvall, as the midfielder clapped the Tottenham supporters at the end of the Fulham defeat. Porro did not appear to applaud the fans before heading down the tunnel.
Porro criticised “disrespectful” fans in a message posed on Instagram on Sunday. He wrote: “Football is emotions. In football, as in life, there can always be mistakes, what I will not tolerate is hearing disrespect from the fan to my team-mates – hence my frustration at the end of the game. And we will get up, we remind you six months ago, everything was so bad, and in the end it is not how it begins but how it ends. To the true Spurs fan, I love you.”
After the match, Frank described the booing of Vicario as “unacceptable” and made his anger with some fans clear, adding: “They can’t be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you’re on the pitch and we do everything we can to perform. I’m fine with them booing after the match, no problem, but not during. That is unacceptable in my opinion.”
Vicario, however, insisted players must accept the reaction of the fans by saying: “It’s part of football. I am a big man, I am quite [a bit] older. We cannot be influenced by the situation in the stands. The fans have the right to do what they think… probably it is on us to stay more calm and focus more on ourselves.”
The disconnect between his players and the fans is a tricky issue for Frank to solve, with Tottenham failing to win at home in the Premier League since the opening-day success over Burnley. The Fulham defeat was the club’s 10th at home in the league in 2025.
Club sources have acknowledged players discussed their relationships with supporters in a post-Chelsea meeting. Insiders believe it would be more damaging if such an obvious issue was being ignored.
It is also understood that this is not the first set of Spurs players to have held concerns over their relationships with the club’s fans and that it has been an issue in previous years.
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