Harry Kane heard it, all right – the extraordinary public wooing from the Manchester United support on Thursday night. “Harry Kane … we’ll see you in June,” they sang at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, half an hour or so into the game, and it took a much-discussed plotline to new levels.
At his press conference on Wednesday, Erik ten Hag had been full of flattery for Kane. A new centre-forward is the United manager’s priority and he would love to sign the England captain. But how often do thousands of fans make it clear to a player during a match that they would like him to come to their club?
A few quick points. The Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, is dead against selling Kane in the summer, even though the player will be out of contract in June of next year. United are wary of dealing with Levy and they are dead against a protracted summer chase. Kane has said nothing about a Spurs contract extension and intends to take stock at the end of the season.
“I heard what they were saying,” Kane said of the United supporters’ chant. “But I’m just focused on this team and trying to finish [the season] strongly.”
On one level, it had to have been nice for Kane to hear it. Everybody likes to feel wanted and respected. But on another, it perhaps reinforced the delicacy of Kane’s situation. He loves Spurs and has given his professional life to them. But as he approaches his 30th birthday in July, he wants to ensure that he competes at Champions League level and has a chance of finally winning silverware.
Can Kane do that at Spurs? The evidence of this season is an obvious no. But can he get out? He was blocked from doing so two summers ago when Manchester City tried to sign him. And, even though his contract is now much shorter, there is nothing to suggest that he will be granted a move.
When the United fans bellowed their chant, which was also in part to taunt the home crowd, Kane could have been excused a sigh. Spurs were 1-0 down and being overrun. They looked inhibited, dropping off United, inviting them to play. Although Spurs created a couple of chances, they gave up many more and the half-time scoreline could have been heavier than 2-0.
There were anti-Levy chants from the South Stand and boos upon the half-time whistle but overall the mood was one of resignation. Spurs were at another low ebb, albeit not as low as that during last Sunday’s 6-1 hammering at Newcastle, the nadir of a crisis that had been weeks in the making, which Kane traces to the 3-3 draw at Southampton on 18 March, from 3-1 up. That was when the team conceded two late goals and Antonio Conte publicly eviscerated the players.
Conte would leave his post as manager a week or so later and since then we have had the home support abusing one of their own players (Davinson Sánchez in the 3-2 loss to Bournemouth); the departure of the managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, over the financial scandal at his previous club, Juventus; the replacement of one interim manager with another (Cristian Stellini out, Ryan Mason in) and the stalling of the push for a top-four finish. After the Newcastle debacle, the players felt moved to reimburse the travelling fans for the cost of their tickets.
All of which made what happened in the second half against United so remarkable, the comeback to salvage a 2-2 draw such a show of personality and togetherness, nobody hiding. The home crowd had not really got on the players’ backs in the first half; they did not react badly to United’s early goal. Their target was Levy. But once Spurs got on the front foot after the interval, the fans had something to get behind and they did. With Kane outstanding, Spurs roared back with goals from Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min.
“I thought the fans were amazing,” Kane said. “They really helped us in that second half. That’s the character and fight we have to show between now and the end of the season and it was good to hear the stadium rocking.”
Kane said it was “quite calm” in the dressing room at half-time. Mason made tactical tweaks, mainly to stop the United midfield from enjoying such easy possession; to get Spurs higher up the pitch.
The real reset had come on Monday morning, when Levy summoned the squad’s senior players for a clear-the-air meeting. He had already decided to sack Stellini and replace him with Mason. The talks with Kane, Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg were an attempt to draw a line under the chaos.
“The chairman asked for a meeting,” Kane said. “It was important [for him] to understand where the players’ heads were at. It wasn’t just the Newcastle result. It had been building up since we conceded the two goals against Southampton.
“It was an honest conversation of where everyone is at and what we need to try to do to give us the best possible chance to finish the season with something. We’re still fighting for fourth place but if it’s not fourth we’ll try to finish fifth or sixth. In this league, it’s so competitive you can easily end up eighth or ninth if you’re not careful. That’s what it was – to give us the best chance.”
Spurs go to Liverpool on Sunday when belief and bravery will again be needed. They would appear, at least, to have recovered a platform.
