Tottenham savaged for sacking medical team amid Michael Owen claim
Tottenham have been criticised for pinning the blame on the wrong people in a big staff overhaul.
Earlier this month, along with the appointment of Thomas Frank, Spurs announced a number of changes to their medical team.
The North London side are coming off the back of a terrible domestic season, and they were blighted by injuries throughout the course of the campaign.
In March, Tottenham supporters ripped into their medical department after a long injury lay-off for defender Cristian Romero.
However, Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – doesn’t believe the finger should be pointed at the medical team.
‘Tottenham must dig deeper into injury crisis’
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness insisted that Tottenham must “dig deeper” into their injury woes, rather than just switching personnel in the medical department.
Adam Brett, who was the club’s director of performance services, and Nick Davies, who was head of sports science, seem to have shouldered much of the blame and were dismissed on 8 July.
Wyness added that he would’ve tried to stabilise the department, rather than ringing the changes.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “In these days of AI and data, of course, there’ll be a very close eye kept on injuries, hours lost of playability, the type of injuries, the type of training, all those sort of things.
“I think it’s wrong to point the finger at the medical team unless there’s something obvious or some experimental treatment that’s been tried that hasn’t worked. I think it’s a little bit wrong.
“I mean, I remember the old story of Michael Owen back in the old days when he was playing for Newcastle. He had constant hamstring situations and it turned out to be his car driving seat was at the wrong angle and the wrong position. So it was something like that.
“In this case, I think they really need to dig into this deeper. There could be personality conflicts that could be going on. There are so many reasons why you need to change the medical room because they do spend so much time with the players and they are key people, not only in terms of the medical treatment, but in terms of the mindset of the players and the whole thing.
“So there may be something else going on that we’re not aware of, but there are reasons why you would try and change it. In my own experience and my own belief, what I’ve always tried to do is stabilise that department. I’d have to have exceptional proof before I change some of the key medical staff.”
Gibbs-White makes transfer decision
Meanwhile, Morgan Gibbs-White has his heart set on joining Tottenham this summer after talks over a move away from Nottingham Forest, sources have told Football Insider.
Football Insider revealed on 18 July that Tottenham are still expected to sign Gibbs-White after he was supposed to undergo a medical at Spurs last week.
However, Forest accused Tottenham of making an illegal approach to Gibbs-White, having never given permission for the talks, and threatened to take legal action as a result.
As far as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are concerned, that deal is now off, but there is a growing feeling that the current protests are only delaying the inevitable.
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