THST minutes: Sessegnon, Lo Celso to return to training this week

A few times a year, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST), the officially-recognized organization that represents Spurs fans, meets with chairman Daniel Levy and the other high-ranking members of the Spurs board to discuss various issues and concerns brought to the THST by supporters. As is their wont, the THST then posts the minutes from those meetings on their website.

These minutes are always extremely interesting to read, because it gives a window into the relationship between the football club and its supporters (spoiler: it’s a pretty good relationship, compared to other clubs). Today, the THST posted minutes from its most recent meeting with the board on October 8.

Perhaps one of the most exciting news found in these minutes is the fact that the club expects both Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso to return to first team training during the international break. That’s pretty significant for a couple of reasons — for Lo Celso it means that he is recovering from the injury he picked up with Argentina in the last international break ahead of schedule. For Sessegnon it means that we’re more likely to see him make his Tottenham debut sooner rather than later.

Here are the other major items of interest from the minutes:

• The THST noted that not a single member contacted the Trust to recommend that Pochettino be fired, a fact that they take to mean that the majority of fans are in support of backing the manager and funding a refresh of the squad.
• The club acknowledged that the next step in the process (a squad refresh) was underway. Levy also noted that not all the outgoing player moves were accomplished this summer, but that a lot of it was out of the club’s hands, saying that it’s not always possible to sell or move on everyone you want to.
• Levy noted that the terms of the recent stadium refinance were the best ever received by a football club for a stadium project. Regarding naming rights, the club’s position hasn’t changed: it will only do a deal if it is the right one for everyone involved. Levy also noted that the highly successful NFL games generated some extremely good publicity for the club and the stadium in the American media.
• The club noted that development on various details in the stadium continue; the rooftop Sky Walk is expected to open this summer, and the Tottenham Hotspur museum inside the stadium is now under construction.
• Regarding the recent contract extension of Moussa Sissoko, Levy noted that the new contract is only one year longer than his prior contract and includes a one year club-initiated further extension. The club also reiterated that contracts to existing players are made difficult when the players don’t want to sign them, which isn’t always because they no longer want to be at the club.
• The THST continued to push the club RE: ticketing issues (a long standing conversation between the Trust and the club) as well as issues of generating organic atmosphere at the new stadium.
• The THST expressed gratitude to the cub for the continued support for Tottenham Hotspur Women.

There’s a lot more information in the full meeting minutes, which I encourage you to read.