Jose Mourinho criticized for holding training session for select Tottenham players

Tottenham were in the news for all the wrong reasons following training session and comments made by the chairman.

Tottenham have not had the best of seasons. After getting to the Champions League final, the club now find themselves struggling both domestically and in Europe. Mauricio Pochettino was fired and replaced by Jose Mourinho who has been unable to improve the side.

Like everyone else during the coronavirus pandemic, Spurs were forced to shut down, maintain social distancing and follow the rest of the guidelines in combating the disease. But for some reason, they were unable to do that.

Jose Mourinho decided to hold a training session with a couple of his players violating the social distancing rule. According to The Guardian, the players who practiced included Tanguy Ndombele, Davinson Sanchez and Ryan Sessegnon.

Ndombele was being specifically watched by Mourinho while the other two were off doing different type of training where they were not maintaining the proper amount of physical distancing. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in backlash toward Spurs and Mourinho.

"“I accept that my actions were not in line with government protocol and we must only have contact with members of our own household,” said Mourinho.“It is vital we all play our parts and follow government advice in order to support our heroes in the NHS and save lives.Source: BBC"

Mourinho wasn’t the only one facing criticism as the club has also come under fire for their decision to furlough non-playing staff as well as Daniel Levy for his comments about the ground staff who are out of work.

Sky Sports Jamie O’Hara publicly criticized the decision to either furlough or cut staff wages by 20 percent. Calling the decision “stupid,” O’Hara also questioned why Spurs felt the need to do that given their owner is a billionaire.

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He also took the time to express their disappointment in the players who have yet to agree to take a pay cut in order to ensure that those who are being affected, can continue earning a living.

Levy, on the other hand, is considering putting the Spurs ground staff to work on his private estate, according to The Telegraph.

While Levy would pay the staff he uses out of his own pocket rather than Tottenham’s, it’s still not a good look. It comes across as someone who is simply thinking of themselves and trying to mask it as if he’s doing a good thing.

One of the suggestions to avoid getting sick is staying indoors. Hiring the ground staff to work at one’s private estate still exposes them to risk. Instead of offering them work, why not just find a way to continue to pay them while they stay safe indoors?

Tottenham, and the public in general, need to be smarter and more sympathetic to the plight of people who are not multi-millionaires or billionaires. Spurs are not the only club to have to deal with criticism and the longer this goes on, they certainly won’t be the last.