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There will probably be Tottenham Hotspur players who eventually express some displeasure with the way Andre Villas-Boas managed the team, but the most unlikely of players to say bad things about him was always going to be the 42-year-old guy who's trying to get into management himself.
Brad Friedel spoke FOX Soccer Daily -- a TV show in the United States -- on Tuesday and claimed that the players were happy to play for AVB until the end, and that they wanted things to work for him at the club.
I think all the players in the changing room really wanted things to work out for Andre. From day one that he came to the club, open door policy, very good communication with the players. None of us were happy to see him go.
We still have to continue to have a very good team spirit, which I know we will. We have a lot of quality in the changing room. I'm sure the board are going to be hiring a very good manager to take us forward, who the players will all be behind again, because, at the end of the day, we are employed by Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, not by the manager they're bringing in. We just have to try to adhere to all of his ideas and try to get results for the football club.
This flies directly in the face of the reports we've heard about locker room unrest and less legitimate internet grumblings about how he'd truly lost some of the players. But, then again, if something was wrong with AVB and his relationship with the players, the last guy to say so would probably be the guy who's likely to get into the managing profession shortly.
And a big hug to @KaylaKnappFOX for the transcript.
