‘It’s part of the fan experience’: Dan Walker slams decision to reimburse Spurs fans for Newcastle tickets

The Vanished presenter, 46, who lives in Sheffield, took to Twitter to voice his concerns after it was revealed that Tottenham Hotspur’s players would be reimbursing Spurs fans the cost of their match tickets following their humiliating 6-1 loss against Newcastle United

Dan said: “Nice gesture but not sure this is the right thing to do. Your team loses, your team wins, your team annoys you, your team lets you down but that is all part of the fan experience 🤔”

With tickets ranging from £19 to £30, the flamboyant gesture is likely to have cost the club around £80,000. They have said supporters were expected to receive the refund in their bank accounts within 24 hours.

A statement released by Tottenham Hotspur players said: "It wasn’t good enough. We know words aren’t enough in situations like this but a defeat like this hurts.

"We appreciate your support, home and away, and with this in mind we would like to reimburse fans with the cost of their match tickets from St James’ Park. We know this does not change what happened on Sunday and we will give everything to put things right against Manchester United on Thursday evening when, again, your support will mean everything to us. Together – and only together – can we move things forward.”

Spurs are fifth in the Premier League table, six points behind third-placed Newcastle United and Manchester United in fourth. Fabian Schar, who currently plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Newcastle United, admitted he still felt "upset" after Newcastle United’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

He told The Chronicle Live: "I was upset with the goal. Spurs have their qualities, you can’t deny that. Over 90 minutes they had their chances and times when they were dangerous. But overall we did really well and kept them away from our goal for most of the game."

Former Tottenham legend Chris Waddle had been among those to demand the club to reimburse fans after their dismal performance on Tyneside.

“I want the club to apologise to the fans and to reimburse them," he told Mirror Football.

Despite their generous offer many fans have been left unimpressed and argue they should  also be compensated for the money they spent on travelling to the match.

One said: “Any single Tottenham player that started that game on Sunday will no doubt each earn £85,000 or MORE, every single week. So for the whole Spurs team / squad to collectively pay out the £85,000 or so for ticket refunds is to me actually an insult.”

Another added: “I would suggest maybe rounding it up to give all the 3,200 travelling Spurs fans £100 each towards their ticket and travel etc, then the other £1.7m or so could then be given to their club’s Foundation and / or other charities.”

Dan Walker, who was the host of Football Focus from 2009 to 2021, sparked a debate after voicing his concerns.

One person responded: “It’s £90K between them, which is £5K a player in the squad… peanuts.”

Another commented: “I think it’s a nice gesture but I do wonder where that will lead. I travelled from Derbyshire to Newcastle this weekend and stayed in a hotel. Including petrol,hotel and ticket it wasn’t a cheap game. If we’d lost I’d have been a bit fussed but wouldn’t expect my money returned.”