There is a campaign from several supporters groups to try and change the clubs mind over the appointment of Italian coach Roberto De Zerbi; the reason for this campaign I will address at the end of this blog however there are also strong footballing reasons to not want this man at our club.
At the time of writing this its not official yet but it appears De Zerbi is set to sign a five year (and 7 games) deal with the club to join now and build something long term in North London – if he can keep the club in the Premier league that is. In addition to being offered a salary making him one of the highest earners in the league he will also be offered a bonus (as reported by Fabrizio Romano) that is higher than any bonus paid to a manager in the history of the league should he keep Spurs a Premier league team.
So what is my footballing reason. Let me start by saying his style of football is what I like to watch and I enjoyed watching his Brighton team, was impressed by them. However when at Brighton he had a fractious relationship with his director of football, which he went public with often and then called out the board and staff until his position was untenable and he left.
This is a pattern which has been repeated at his most recent club, Marseille.
It does not take much time to search fans of these two clubs and their thoughts on De Zerbi to see there is a real feeling of the man has an ego his results and CV does not match. In esence by employing this man we would be employing another Conte but with slightly better footballing philosophies and none of the success.
As a club we are massively fractured. The ownership and board I do not think have ever been this despised and their great plan to take the club forward is to hire a man, giving him massive money, who is renowned for calling out owners and alike non stop if he does not get his way.
I know many Spurs fans liked the Conte rant and agreed with him but you must understand how bad that was for the club? How damaging… the players did not need that, the fans did not need that and largely since there have been pockets of togetherness (thank you Ange) but the club has been largely fractured and unhappy. From Levy out campaigns to the Lewis family being threatened when at the ground.
On a weekly basis at our stadium the Spurs staff sat in the stands are being subjected to abuse, these are members of the analysis team and I know of one that has resigned from his role as simply could not handle the level of anger being aimed at him when all he did was collate match stats.
When a club is this fractured and broken you need a figure who can bring everyone back together, unit the squad, unite the ownership and back office staff and unite the fan base.
De Zerbi, even if I knew nothing about his personal values and beliefs is not that man and has demonstrated it already at EVERY club he has managed.
For me personally however not wanting De Zerbi to be the manager of my club is down to his stance on Mason Greenwood and his very public backing of him.
For those living under a rock and do not know Mason Greenwood was accused of serious sexual assault by his partner, these allegations when they split were evidenced by the young lady with video and audio recordings where the player could be seen in one and then heard in others physically and sexually assaulting the woman while she cried and screamed for him to stop and screamed no.
The lady in question later deleted her posts, where she also in written form detailed every incident of abuse. Likely due to legal advice but by then anyone with eyes knew and understood what Mason Greenwood had done – had been doing – what type of ‘man’ he is.
However, I read in replies to this all the time.. not convicted so was innocent and that is the tact De Zerbi took when recruiting him and playing him in his team – publicly talking about how tough it had been for HIM! How they are still together as a couple and happy etc.
Like there has never been an example of an abuse victim forgiving and remaining with an abuser… the legal argument is also a nonsense as the young woman dropped her case and the CPS could not prosecute as the evidence had hit the public domain and therefore would not be able to be used in court – that is the only reason he did not get prosecuted.
What hits me hard in this is the fact so many are willing to make excused for Greenwood and then by extension De Zerbi. Where is your moral compass? Do you think if your mother, sister, friend, your partner was assaulted.. and she had a video.. an audio… of her screaming no… would you be okay with that person if the courts could not convict? Would you think of that man as innocent.. tell her ‘get on with it as not gone to jail’ and brush it off? Could you support anyone that then supports that man? Could you? …. I hate making this example as it should not be the case that a lot of men only consider this when its someone they care about – women deserve respect regardless of your feelings towards them.
A woman alleged sexual assault and I see man say ‘some women lie, her word against his, we wont ever know…’ and then I see a woman with video evidence and some men again ‘oh that could be out of context’ and happy to defend him and diminish the lived experience of so many.
I wonder how these same men would feel if De Zerbi was defensing immigrant gangs of men.. just their culture is different… or maybe if these man could kick a ball better those out protesting against immigration would be happier?
Defending sexual assault in any form is sick. A lot of men have shown who they really are and how they really feel about this issue and women in the last few days and its gross. No to De Zerbi.
-Admin SJ
