Tottenham await food test results

[Mac 10 †]

Tottenham await food test results

Tottenham will wait for the results of food tests before deciding whether to take action after 10 of their players fell ill before their game at West Ham.
 
Martin Jol said players vomited in the dressing room before the 2-1 loss which ended their Champions League dream.

"Until we get the results, we don't know whether it was the food or a virus," said a Spurs spokesperson. "We should get the results in 48 hours."

The players had dined at a London Marriott hotel.

If the hotel is found guilty of serving unfit food, the punishment - under the Food Safety Act of 1990 - could range from a fine to the threat of six months in prison.

The investigations at the hotel are the responsibility of a joint team involving the Health Protection Agency and the Environmental inspectors at Tower Hamlets council.

Tottenham were unsuccessful in their attempts to get the match delayed or postponed and there could be the threat of legal action against the Premier League as to whether they followed the right procedure.

Jol said: "I can sum up the players who were not sick.

"There was Paul Robinson, Stephen Kelly, Anthony Gardner and Jermain Defoe and the rest were sick. So we had to call for some reserve players."

Paul Downing, general manager of the London Marriott West India Quay Hotel, in Canary Wharf, east London, said the team had stayed there several times before.

"We don't know that it is food poisoning but we need to establish what has made some of the players unwell.

"We are taking part in an investigation with club management to try to find that out."

Although it is not the subject of a police investigation, a Scotland Yard spokesman said food samples were taken from the hotel "as a precaution".

"No official allegations have been received," he said.

Jol has said the club will not appeal to the Premier League for the game to be replayed.

Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore confirmed that he was not able to deem the match a "postponeable event" because Tottenham still had enough fit players to fulfil the fixture.

Middlesbrough were docked three points in 1997 for calling off a match with 24 hours' notice, a punishment which sealed their relegation.

And Jol said the club were mindful of that when they decided to go ahead with the game against West Ham.

"We heard about the situation with Middlesbrough," he said.

"We asked if we could postpone the game for three or four hours because the players had not eaten but that was not possible so we made the decision to warm up and after that everyone said they wanted to play."

Tottenham were offered a two-hour delay to the kick-off but decided that such a decision would have made no difference to their predicament.

But Jol, who has nonetheless led Spurs to their highest Premiership finish of fifth, remained philosophical about the situation.

"I can appreciate the reasons we could not postpone it," he conceded.

"West Ham didn't want to play on Monday because they have the FA Cup final on Saturday.

"It's always a thought that maybe we could have done better with a fit squad but I have to say to myself that it's all in the game.

"We're in Europe and that's the main target but to be fourth for most of the season and to lose it on the last day is a big disappointment. We're gutted."

Meanwhile Tottenham's former director of football, David Pleat, said: "I don't believe conspiracy theories, I don't believe that.

"I just think that they've been really unlucky and they've picked up something in the food which isn't quite right and it's affected them.

"I believe four or five players went into the game feeling pretty low and a couple of the players found great difficulties in playing the game. It's very, very unfortunate."

[K.Dub]