José Mourinho and Tottenham players break coronavirus rules to train
José Mourinho and members of his Tottenham squad have been pictured on Hadley Common in north London, having ignored government rules to train there during the coronavirus lockdown.
Footage emerged on social media of Mourinho, wearing his trademark purple Spurs training top and tracksuit bottoms, overseeing a makeshift session with Tanguy Ndombele.
In a video clip Davinson Sánchez and Ryan Sessegnon can be seen jogging side-by-side – flouting the twometre distancing requirement – something which has unsurprisingly aggravated the hierarchy at Spurs. Mourinho is understood to be adamant distancing was respected during his session on the common.
During the pandemic, the government has made it plain that outdoor exercise can be undertaken only with other people from the same household.
A Spurs spokesperson said: “All of our players have been reminded to respect social distancing when exercising outdoors. We shall continue to reinforce this message.”
Spurs were already under siege after the chairman, Daniel Levy, made the controversial decision to reduce the wages of his 550 non-football staff by 20%, in some cases by placing them on furlough.
The club are the eighth-largest in the world by revenue according to Deloitte and their most recent accounts showed that Levy earned £4m – up from £3m in 2017-18 – plus a deferred bonus of £3m for the new stadium being completed.
The club’s supporters’ trust has called on Levy to follow the example of Liverpool and reverse the decision to furlough staff.