Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has revealed that the Lilywhites squad recently held talks with unpopular chairman Daniel Levy over issues that had "been building" at the club over the past several weeks.
Levy was in the stands to witness Spurs' 2-2 Premier League draw with Manchester United on Thursday, during which the hosts fell 2-0 down before the break as boos rang out around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
A plethora of Spurs fans also directed their own anti-Levy chants towards the 61-year-old, who promoted Antonio Conte's assistant Cristian Stellini to the top job before sacking the Italian after a dismal 29-day reign.
Thursday's game ended on a positive note as Spurs came from behind to take a point under Ryan Mason, who is now in control of the reins for a second time after a brief period in charge at the end of the 2020-21 season.
The four-goal stalemate with Man United gave Tottenham a platform to build on in the wake of their 6-1 mauling at the hands of Newcastle United last weekend, leading to Stellini being given the boot the next day.
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Levy said in his sacking statement that he had met with the Tottenham squad following their St James' Park embarrassment, and Kane has revealed that an "honest conversation" took place with the chairman regarding tension that had threatened to boil over before the international break.
"The chairman asked for a meeting. Obviously I won't go into what was said but I think it was important for him to understand where the players' heads were at at that moment. Obviously coming off the back of that result," The Mirror quotes Kane as saying.
"And it wasn't just that result. It had been building up since the international break when 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, as high up as we can.
"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. And I'm glad we reacted like that against Manchester United."
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Tottenham players announced that they would be refunding supporters who made the journey to Newcastle last weekend, which Kane insisted was the right thing to do given the manner of their humiliating loss, but he hailed the fans' "amazing" contribution to Thursday's point.
"When you travel that far and you're 5-0 down in 20 minutes, it's not acceptable on any level so we know it wasn't going to magical change their feelings or make the result any better but it was still something as a group we wanted to do to try to show we're all together in this moment," Kane added.
"I thought the fans were amazing again. They really helped us in that second half and we're going to need them until the end of the season.
"We know we've got a lot to work on and Ryan knows that but ultimately these last five games are going to be about mentality and character and more of what we showed in the second half against United."
In spite of his popularity with the squad and positive impressions from his time as interim manager, Mason will likely make way for a new permanent head coach at the end of the season, and Kane has apparently been offered a say in who Conte's permanent successor should be.
Tottenham remain rank outsiders for Champions League qualification in fifth place heading into Sunday's showdown with Liverpool, six points behind Man United having played two games more.
Ben Knapton
