Mills fumes at two Tottenham men who should be ‘nowhere near’ the bench v Crystal Palace tomorrow
Fabio Paratici and Steve Hitchen should be “nowhere near” the Tottenham dugout against Crystal Palace tomorrow, according to Danny Mills.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Leeds United and England defender claimed the Spurs players are receiving mixed messages and Paratici and Hitchen should be in the “prawn sandwich room”.
The Sun reported on 5 September the Tottenham players are unhappy with the presence of the duo especially as they are animated on the bench.
They are there because the Premier League’s pandemic protocols require all players and staff in the “red zone” testing pool to be together in specific areas.
Spurs have enjoyed an unbeaten start in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo and travel to Crystal Palace this weekend.
Asked for his assessment of the situation, Mills told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley: “You want your coach, the first-team coaches, you want people that matter.
“These people should not be there, they are irrelevant. Come match day, they are irrelevant – it’s not their job. They should not be anywhere near it.
“It can be distracting. Too many cooks spoil the broth. There’s too many voices, too many instructions.
“Imagine it at Leeds, Victor Orta sat on the bench. Victor’s great at his job, but would you want him next to Bielsa on the bench? No, of course you wouldn’t.
“You’d get mixed messages. That’s the last thing you want. Get yourselves back upstairs in the prawn sandwich room.”
Paratici joined Spurs from Juventus over the summer to become the club’s new managing director of football.
Hitchen is Spurs’ technical performance director and has been there since 2017.
In other news, the Tanguy Ndombele saga will end badly for Tottenham after a “very strange” update.