Tottenham players told to conduct second lap of appreciation amid fractious atmosphere after Aston Villa loss

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Tottenham’s players were told to leave the dressing to conduct a second lap of appreciation after some supporters refused to leave the stadium after the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

In bizarre scenes, the squad returned to the pitch around 40 minutes after full-time as many of the 10,000 returning supporters expressed frustration at the club’s chairman Daniel Levy and ticket prices, long after the final whistle.

It is understood the players’ lap of honour was supposed to take place immediately after the final whistle but many fans seemed to think it had not yet happened at all and the players were asked to re-emerge.

Only Harry Kane – who applauded each corner of the stadium alone in what could be his last home match for Spurs – and Dele Alli, Heung-min Son, Gareth Bale and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had initially stayed out at full-time.

Before the players came back out, the stadium tannoy and stewards appeared to encourage fans to leave but many still stayed put and there was a scuffle between some supporters and security staff in the South Stand.

Some angry supporters chanted “We want Levy out” and “We want our Tottenham back” at Levy, and “Sixty-quid you’re having a laugh” and “We want our money back” in reference to the blanket price of tickets for the match.

There were few fans remaining when the players re-emerged but the atmosphere improved, with supporters chanting for Kane and Bale.

Spurs went down to a Sergio Reguilon own goal and Ollie Watkins’ strike after Steven Bergwijn had opened the scoring.

Asked about fan unrest, interim head-coach Ryan Mason said: "We've just lost a game of football. It's an emotional game.

“Our fans care. I care, so I've no problem with fans being disappointed. They've come here to support us and they wanted us to win.

“"We didn't do that. I feel very disappointed that we didn't do that. So they're emotional.

“There's nothing wrong with that. That's normal in this game. It shows they care."

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