No matter how much you love a club and how closely you follow the team, you usually only get to see a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.
Beyond what the club themselves release and what the media uncover, fans don’t get to see a lot of what goes on behind closed doors in the changing room.
Luckily for Spurs fans, Clive Allen has revealed all in his new book ‘Up Front‘, including a rather interesting bust-up between Harry Redknapp and David Bentley.
When many Spurs fans think of Bentley, they picture that screamer against Arsenal and the midfielder drenching Redknapp after the club qualified for the Champions League for the first time.
However, at one point in that season it looked at if Bentley’s time at Tottenham had come to an end.
Allen reveals that Bentley and Alan Hutton were named in a reserve match a few months before that iconic match against Man City.
He claims that the duo were not interested in putting any effort into the match, with Redknapp coming down to watch. The gaffer proceeded to lay into the pair at halftime, to which Bentley had an eyebrow-raising response…
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Allen said ( Up Front – as quoted by The Standard): Although Bentley ended up playing a key role in that season’s run-in, the animosity between the pair ran deep — and all due to a reserve match a few months earlier
The game started and Alan [Hutton] and David were a disgrace — their attitude stank. Early in the first half, Harry came down to watch, as first-team training had finished, and he stood alongside me.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Not really, gaffer. Hutton doesn’t want to play. He’s not warmed up and isn’t interested. Bentley’s the same. They are just messing about.”
Harry continued: “Get them all in at half-time. Don’t say anything, I’ll come in and have a word with them.”
“Fine, boss. No problem.”
Harry went storming in and said: “What the f*** is going on here? Hutton, you’re an insult to this club.” Alan shrugged his shoulders.
“David Bentley — you’re a disgrace.”
David responded by standing up, turning around and reaching into his jacket for his phone. He kept his back to Harry, who by this point was almost going to swing for David.
“What are you doing?” asked Harry.
“I’m just ringing my agent to tell him to get me out of here.” He made the call, telling his agent to speak to Daniel Levy in order to get the club to sell him, before putting the phone back in his pocket and sitting down.
“Who the f*** do you think you are?” asked Harry, incandescent by now. David couldn’t care less.
Harry vented his anger and substituted him. He banished him to the reserves for the next few days, training away from the first team.
During those few days, though, Aaron Lennon got injured and Bentley came back into the team.
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