Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence apologised for Chelsea actions, says Spurs boss Thomas Frank
The Spurs boss revealed that the pair had said sorry for their transgressions after the London derby defeat
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank has said that defensive duo Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven have apologised to him for snubbing his request to applaud home fans following Spurs's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.
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Frank's team were booed off at full time after the home defeat to their London rivals, having scarcely troubled the Blues goal.
After the final whistle, an eye-catching exchange occurred when Frank urged stand-in captain Van de Ven and Spence to applaud the home fans.
Van de Ven and Spence instead ignored the Spurs boss before they headed straight down the tunnel, with Frank left staring in their direction, but ahead of Tuesday's visit of Copenhagen in the Champions League, the 52-year-old confirmed the matter was closed.
"Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday unprompted and said they want to say sorry for the situation," Frank explained.
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"They didn't want it to look bad or disrespectful and all the kind of perceptions you can get in this media world. So, that was not their intention at all towards me, or the team or the club.
"They were just frustrated with the performance, the loss and the booing during the game.
"We all have a perception and we are very good to have that strongly that, 'ah that is because whatever, because their mum wasn't well or they didn't like the head coach or they were irritated with the performance, or because they lost'. We are very, very good at that but none of us knows.
"That would be my first question to them - how and why? Of course I am happy, because I knew the question would come today, that they were coming in (already).
"It means they care and I think that is very good. They care about the team, the club and in this case me, so happy with that.
"That is very good and we had a good talk about a lot of things, but like everything we will keep it internally.
"Like I said to the players when I said before, it would be very, very, very unusual if I ever throw a player under the bus. We are all humans but I will always protect them."
Spence is a doubt for the visit of Copenhagen after he sat out training on Monday along with Mohammed Kudus, but Frank confirmed they "could and should" feature on Tuesday.
Quizzed on if the matter with Van de Ven and Spence was now closed after both apologised, Frank added: "For me? Ah yeah. 100 per cent (closed)."