{"id":379281,"date":"2026-04-03T02:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379281\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T02:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:47:11","slug":"tottenham-head-coach-roberto-de-zerbi-apologises-for-past-comments-on-mason-greenwood-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379281\/","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi apologises for past comments on Mason Greenwood \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, has issued an apology for his past comments on Mason Greenwood and said he would never intentionally downplay violence against women.<\/p>\n

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters\u2019 Trust (THST) strongly criticised the Italian\u2019s appointment on Tuesday, releasing a statement that expressed \u201cserious and far-reaching concerns\u201d soon after he was confirmed to have signed a five-year deal in replacing the interim manager Igor Tudor.<\/p>\n

De Zerbi also faced opposition from the fan groups Proud Lilywhites, Women of the Lane and Spurs Reach, with the THST\u2019s statement calling on the club and the 46-year-old to publicly reassert their \u201ccommitment to the values that fans hold dear \u2013 chief among them equality, respect and integrity\u201d.<\/p>\n

De Zerbi responded in his first interview with the club\u2019s in-house media on Thursday, stating that he wanted to answer in Italian \u201cbecause I want to be clear\u201d. \u201cI have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my life, I have always stood up for those who are more vulnerable, more fragile. I\u2019ve consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk. Those of you who know me well, will know that I am not the kind of person who makes compromises to win more games or to win an extra title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry if I offended anyone\u2019s feeling with this subject matter \u2013 I have a daughter and I\u2019m very sensitive to these things, and I always have been. I hope that over time people will get to know me better and will understand that, at that moment, I didn\u2019t mean to take a stance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marseille'sMarseille’s forward Mason Greenwood against Lille. Photograph: Pascal Pochard-Casabianca\/ AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

Greenwood was charged in 2022 with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the case in February 2023 after key witnesses withdrew their involvement and \u201cnew material came to light\u201d.<\/p>\n

The player had denied the charges. Greenwood, the former Manchester United forward, joined Marseille on a permanent deal in 2024 when De Zerbi was in charge of the French club. The head coach described the former England forward as a \u201cgood person\u201d and said that \u201cit saddens me what happened to him because I know a very different person from the one portrayed in England\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spurs are believed to have carefully considered the comments concerning Greenwood with De Zerbi during negotiations before deciding to appoint him. It is understood that there is no break clause in the former Brighton manager\u2019s contract if Tottenham are relegated for the first time since 1977 and De Zerbi \u2013 who has more than a week to prepare for his first game at Sunderland next Sunday \u2013 said he is committed for the long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI signed five years of contract because, for me, it is a big challenge and I will be the coach of Tottenham next season, no matter what,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult moment for everyone at Tottenham but I think we have the right qualities to come out of this moment. I believe in the players. I think we have to remember who we are and who the players are, because we have very big players and we have to work on their confidence and qualities.\u201d \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Tottenham Hotspur head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, has issued an apology for his past comments on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,1102,112,3568],"class_list":{"0":"post-379281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-premier-league","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tottenham-hotspur"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}