Tottenham Hotspur‘s main supporters’ group has accused the club of a “dramatic fall in ambition” after meeting with senior club figures.
Spurs have won just one of their last six Premier League games and find themselves 14th in the table with 27 points, just three more than at this stage last season.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) says members of its board met with “representatives of the Club at a senior level” on Friday to discuss supporter concerns.
Several players were pulled away from angry fans following their 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth on Wednesday.
Sections of the travelling support booed under-fire manager Thomas Frank, who also drew criticism for drinking out of a coffee cup emblazoned with the logo of rivals Arsenal before kick-off.
A THST statement cited the club’s lack of transfer activity this month as evidence of reduced ambition, as well as recent comments made by Frank.
“[He reminded] supporters that the club finished 17th in the Premier League last season, that the club is only participating in the Champions League through winning the Europa League, and that Bournemouth (a side without a win in 11 games) are ‘always a difficult team’ and that he is ‘not enjoying the job’,” read the statement.
THST accused players of “directly confronting” fans who were “exercising their right to express themselves”, and referred to the “embarrassment” of club captain Cristian Romero’s social media activity.
After the Bournemouth loss, Argentine Romero stated on Instagram “other people” should be coming out to speak and adding they “only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies”.
The post was deleted and reposted with an altered caption.
“While these incidents may have explanations that we could understand and even sympathise with, they demonstrate a lack of understanding and a lack of care about the perception of the football club,” said THST.
“We reiterated to the club that we believe the club leadership should address these issues publicly and through direct communication with fans.
“We stressed that fans need to hear directly from the club leadership [of] the ambition for the football club for this season, for next season, and for the foreseeable future.
“That begins, but is certainly not restricted to, the coming transfer window, in which all the stops need to be pulled out in order to demonstrate that Tottenham Hotspur are a serious football club and that we really do want to ‘win more, more often’.”
During his media conference on Thursday, Frank said: “I think it’s very important to stress that even though there’s noise, the club is very aligned.
“[Sporting director] Johan [Lange], [chief executive] Vinai [Venkatesham] and I are very aligned. The ownership is very aligned. We know it’s a tough spell that we need to get through.”