Hugo Lloris slams Spurs chairman's 'second-best' mentality

Updated: 08 Nov, 2024 • 0 • min read

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Hugo Lloris slams Spurs chairman's 'second-best' mentality

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Ex-Tottenham Hotspur captain Hugo Lloris has lifted the lid on a moment that made him doubt whether the club possessed the right mentality to succeed.

Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs were beaten 2-0 by Premier League rivals Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League final.

The defeat, one of three finals Lloris lost in 12 years with the club, still haunt the Frenchman, which he reflected upon openly in his new book.

Lloris was left questioning the club's desire to win after chairman Daniel Levy presented engraved luxury watches as gifts to all players four days before the showpiece.

Writing in his autobiography being serialised in The Guardian, the World Cup winner said:

Four days before the final, Daniel Levy called us all together to announce that, with the support of a sponsor, we would each receive a luxury aviator watch from the club.

At first, we were excited to see the elegant boxes. Then we opened them and discovered that he'd had the back of each timepiece engraved with the player's name and "Champions League Finalist 2019".

"Finalist". Who does such a thing at a moment like this? I still haven't got over it, and I'm not alone. If we'd won, he wouldn't have asked for the watches back to have "Winner" engraved instead.

Levy has been instrumental in providing infrastructure such as Hotspur Way and building up a world-class stadium which has solidified Tottenham's position as one of top clubs in the Premier League.

READ MORE: Tottenham criticised for allowing Hugo Lloris to play on with head injury

However, he has also been criticised for making footballing mistakes along his journey.

I have considerable respect and esteem for the man and all he has done for the club as chairman - I got to know him - but there are things he is simply not sensitive to.

As magnificent as the watch is, I have never worn it. I would have preferred there to be nothing on it. With an engraving like that, Levy couldn't have been surprised if we had been 1-0 down after a couple of minutes: so it was written.

Whilst reaching the final was indeed an incredible achievement for a Spurs side struggling due to poor squad investment decisions at that time, the gesture by Levy seemed more like celebrating mediocrity rather than pushing for victory.

At the post-match reception at the hotel, I had the impression that some people from the club and certain players were not sufficiently despondent at having lost.

I would have liked people to come up to me and say, "Don't worry, Hugo. Never again. We'll give you the means for a comeback."

But when I returned to my room on the night of the final, I think I had the same feeling as Mauricio and Harry [Kane]: does the club really want to win?

Real Madrid would never have celebrated a lost final, and we shouldn't have either.

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