Alasdair Gold has revealed in his column for Football.London that Cristian Stellini sought out Gary O’Neil in the tunnel after the Bournemouth boss criticised the interim Tottenham head coach for not shaking his hand.
Tottenham’s defeat on Saturday piled on even more misery on Stellini, who would not have been used to this level of scrutiny and criticism, having been suddenly thrust into the managerial hot seat after Antonio Conte’s departure.
(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
After his side suffered a 3-2 loss, courtesy of a stoppage-time winner from Danjo Ouattara, the Italian had to field several difficult questions, including ones on his defensive tactics and the home fans jeering Davinson Sanchez (Football.London).
It turns out that Stellini was caught in the middle of another mini-storm as O’Neil ripped into his Spurs counterpart for going straight down the tunnel after the final whistle instead of shaking his hand.
The Cherries boss told BBC Sport: “When we were on the wrong end at our place, I shook the opposition manager’s hand.
“I was disappointed with them today. I thought to go straight down the tunnel and not shake hands was poor on their part. But it is what it is.”
However, Gold has now revealed that Stellini realised his error in the aftermath of the final whistle and rectified his mistake.
The journalist explained that the 48-year-old sought out O’Neil in the tunnel to shake his hand, waiting there until the Bournemouth boss’ BBC interview was finished.
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Given Stellini’s inexperience in the top job, he probably forget to shake O’Neil’s hand as the Spurs man would have likely had a lot on his mind, given the manner in which we lost.
I do feel for the Italian, who has been thrust into an extremely difficult environment at Spurs, with many fans clearly at the end of the patience with the way things are being run.
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