Tottenham ready to move on from Rose drama

Tottenham fans anxiously awaited Mauricio Pochettino’s press conference ahead of the visit to Newcastle match on Sunday, if only to get his thoughts on the Danny Rose debacle.

Prior to Wednesday, Tottenham’s transfer window had been one of mild disappointment at worst, contentedness at best.

Losing Kyle Walker was far from ideal, but it left Spurs £50 million richer when, with costs for the new stadium ballooning, every pound counted tremendously.

Even if that money was not immediately re-invested in deepening the squad or finding a new right-back, Pochettino assured his adoring public that moves would be made in due time.

It was a strange sensation, in hindsight. Consecutive Champions League qualifications and young breakout stars like Harry Kane and Dele Alli secured with new contracts lulled fans — and the club itself — into a tepid complacency.

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Rose did his level best to remind everyone what lurked just beneath the surface. All the excitement at Spurs hid the fact that almost all of the components of the starting XI were not being paid as much as their counterparts, many of whom were objectively worse at football. There is little justice in a world where 34-year-old Jermain Defoe is making more than reigning Golden Boot winner Harry Kane.

Social media — and, of course, the Sun — immediately took the short cut to the worst possible scenario, where Rose’s comments ignited a firestorm of discontent within the ranks. To peruse Twitter on Thursday was to witness the best Spurs team in generations disintegrate before your very eyes.

The circumstances were not quite so dire, of course. Internal conversations resulted in Rose releasing a statement via his agent, which was followed in due course by Pochettino’s own comments on the matter. Via the Guardian:

"“[The disruption was] more outside than in the club. The players were very calm. Sometimes you understand the frustration. It was his opinion and then he understood he needed to apologize. I forgive that. For me, let’s move on and try to get him fit as soon as possible.”"

Now, this was the statement Pochettino was almost certain to make. Rose might have pressed his case and attempted to force a move — and still might — but his conciliatory words will settle tensions at least in the short term.

One fire snuffed out does not extinguish its source however. Tottenham were bound to face this kind of resistance to their wage restrictions, and outbursts like Rose’s are going to become a common refrain every transfer window.

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That is, unless Daniel Levy loosens the purse strings. As unlikely as that is to happen, it might be the more palatable option at this point compared to rebuilding the team along with the new stadium.