'Should be ashamed!' - Gary Neville tears into Tottenham players for 'pathetic' season & mocks club motto
Tottenham managed to preserve their Premier League status by the skin of their teeth, finishing just two points above the drop zone. However, the relief of survival has not spared them from fierce criticism, with Neville leading the charge against a squad that has underperformed relative to its vast resources. The United legend did not hold back when asked if he felt Spurs had hit rock bottom this term."Is it too far to say that they've been pathetic? That they should be ashamed of themselves? Probably not," Neville told Sky Sports. "This is Tottenham Hotspur. I know sometimes I get mocked for saying this is Manchester United, but this is a football club steeped in incredible traditions."Now they've not won trophies for a long time regularly, even though they won the Europa League last year, which was fantastic. It was great for this fanbase to celebrate a trophy. But they've been underachievers and underperforming for a long time. This is another level of underachievement and hitting new lows. The last two years in the Premier League."Neville was particularly critical of the dressing room culture at the north London club, suggesting that many of the current players do not deserve to wear the shirt. "The fans were celebrating because for them it's real," he said. "For the players, I'm sure for some of them it is real, but for some of them, it doesn't feel like they want to be on the bus and that's what Roberto De Zerbi is going to have to work out. He's probably worked it out already."Mocking the club's iconic motto, Neville added: "The actions out on the pitch speak a lot louder than words. To dare is to do - do they dare to do, these players? I don't think so. Are they always together? No, I don't think so."The criticism didn't stop at the players, as Neville turned his attention to the board and the chaotic managerial changes that have defined the season. From the departure of Ange Postecoglou to the short-lived tenures of Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, the pundit believes the ownership has lost the trust of the supporters through inconsistent decision-making."Is there a connection right through the club? No, we hear that the owners have been trying to sell this club for two or three, four years now, trying to get as high a price as possible," Neville claimed. "They've done a great job in certain ways with certain things that they've built, in infrastructure terms, but they failed the fans on the pitch - that is most important. There's got to be a massive reset; there's got to be an autopsy that goes really deep, right the way through the club."When you're owners of a football club - and I'm an owner of a football club - sometimes you have to start by looking in the mirror yourself. Success sometimes doesn't come in a football club because of the decisions that you [the owner] make, because of what you do. Not because of what the fans, what the players, or what the coaches do."I mean, appointing Igor Tudor and having to sack him within a few weeks - he didn't feel right; that appointment from day one, did it? It just didn't connect. Sacking Ange Postecoglou and bringing in Thomas Frank, someone who's highly respected, bringing in Igor Tudor, now bringing De Zerbi in."What a rollercoaster of a season. [The owners] have lost a lot of credibility and trust. You can see the signs that are up against the owners, and I'm not surprised."With De Zerbi now tasked with leading the rebuild, the Italian faces a monumental challenge to clear out the deadwood and instil a winning mentality. Neville believes the manager must be ruthless in the transfer market if he is to turn the dream team vision into a reality, suggesting that the current squad needs a total overhaul to be competitive again."Not winning a game here (at home) since Christmas is absolutely shocking for a group of players that have been expensively assembled and for a club of such stature, but they're flimsy, they're weak, they're vulnerable and the autopsy really has got to begin," Neville concluded. "Now they know for real, having escaped today, they can start to basically drive a bulldozer through that dressing room because that's what they need to do."
