LONDON: Coach Thomas Frank hopes Tottenham Hotspur fans will give Mathys Tel a “really big cheer” in Saturday’s Premier League campaign opener after the forward faced racial abuse on social media for missing a penalty in Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup loss to Paris St Germain.
Frank said no real Spurs fan would have done that to the 20-year-old.
“I think it’s terrible what happened to Mathys… there’s no real Tottenham supporter that will ever do that,” Frank told reporters on Friday ahead of their home game against Burnley.
“The real Tottenham supporters that we’ll see tomorrow at the stadium, they’ll back him, and I expect them to… in tough times we step up together, and I expect the fans to give him a really, really, really big cheer tomorrow.
Frank said he wanted to focus on the game ahead, with the Europa League winners hopeful of a winning start after finishing 17th in the Premier League last season.
Yves Bissouma, who was left out of the squad on Wednesday for being late several times, will be in the squad for the Burnley game, the Danish coach added.
The Mali midfielder has entered the final year of his contract, and his future could still be away from Tottenham as the club remain active in the transfer window.
Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze and Manchester City attacker Savinho are reportedly targets, but Frank refused to be drawn on specific names.
“In many ways, I’m very happy with the squad. I think there’s a lot of good players,” he said. “Of course, we want as strong and competitive a squad as possible.”
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025