Cristian Romero has been spoken to by Thomas Frank and one of Tottenham’s sporting directors after an apparent swipe at the board for staying silent amid the team’s struggles. The captain posted a strongly worded message following Wednesday’s defeat at Bournemouth that initially accused the hierarchy of telling “lies” before being edited to remove that incendiary reference.
What remained on Romero’s Instagram post was an apparent call for Spurs directors to speak up. “At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don’t – as has been happening for several years now,” he wrote. “They only show up when things are going well.” In the initial post, the second sentence had read: “They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies.”
The club have been run by a new leadership team since Daniel Levy stepped down as chair in early September. Peter Charrington, who joined the board in March, took on the newly created role of nonexecutive chair, while Vinai Venkatesham has been chief executive since June. The club is owned by the Lewis family through a family trust, relatives of former owner Joe Lewis.
Frank confirmed he and Johan Lange had talked to Romero on Thursday. “A lot of the things he’s done well on and off the pitch, I’m happy with,” the head coach said. “But also when you’re a young leader sometimes you make a mistake. Of course it’s good to keep it internally.” Post-game footage from Bournemouth showed Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro arguing with supporters.
Romero also issued an apology to fans and accepted responsibility, while calling for unity. “Especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together, is part of football,” he said. Richarlison responded with a hand-clapping emoji and Porro posted “Amen”. Frank, whose side are 14th in the Premier League, said Mohammed Kudus was not expected to return from injury until April, and dismissed imagery of him holding an Arsenal-branded cup at Bournemouth as inadvertent.
