Tottenham Hotspur's players have announced that they will reimburse supporters who travelled to St James' Park to watch their side's 6-1 defeat to Newcastle United on Sunday.
In a game that proved to be the final nail in Cristian Stellini's coffin, Tottenham were humiliated by a side starting the day just one place and three points better off than them in the table.
A double from Jacob Murphy either side of Joelinton's effort propelled the Magpies into a 3-0 lead by the 10-minute mark, before Alexander Isak's double incredibly made it five.
In the process, Newcastle became the second-fastest team to score five goals against an opponent in a Premier League game, with only Watford conceding a quintet of goals quicker - doing so in 18 minutes against Manchester City in 2019.
Stellini's 4-3-3 experiment could hardly have gone worse, but Spurs regained a measure of control after reverting to their familiar 3-4-3 shape, and Harry Kane pulled one back in the second half.
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However, Callum Wilson came off the bench to restore the Magpies' five-goal advantage, leading to Stellini's sacking from his position as interim head coach just over 24 hours later.
Spurs were subsequently inundated with calls to refund fans who made the long and arduous journey to St James' Park, and the Tottenham squad have now confirmed that they will reimburse the cost of matchday tickets.
"As a squad, we understand your frustration, your anger. It wasn't good enough. We know words aren't enough in situations like this but believe us, a defeat like this hurts," Tottenham's players said in a social media statement.
"We appreciate your support, home and away, and with this in mind we would like to reimburse fans with the cost of their match tickets from St James' Park.
"We know this does not change what happened on Sunday and we will give everything to put things right against Manchester United on Thursday evening when, again, your support will mean everything to us. Together – and only together – can we move things forward."
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On Monday evening, Stellini's swift sacking was confirmed, as Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy labelled Sunday's mauling "wholly unacceptable" and "devastating" to watch in a message to fans.
The Italian, who served as Antonio Conte's right-hand man, lasted just 29 days in the job, overseeing one win from four games against Newcastle, Everton, Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Ryan Mason has once again been placed in temporary charge, having also been promoted to the role of assistant head coach to Stellini when Conte left by mutual consent last month.
The 31-year-old former Spurs midfielder previously took charge of seven games towards the end of the 2020-21 season after Jose Mourinho's sacking, winning four of them while overseeing a 1-0 loss to Manchester City in the EFL Cup final.
Mason is now preparing his troops for Thursday's game with fourth-placed Manchester United, who hold a six-point lead over Tottenham with two games in hand.
Ben Knapton
