UK television host Piers Morgan has condemned Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho after he flouted coronavirus lockdown procedures to lead several Spurs players through a training session in a public park on Tuesday.
Mourinho was photographed with three of his players – Davinson Sanchez, Ryan Sessegnon and Tanguy Ndombele – as he conducted the impromptu session at Monken Hadley Common in Barnet in defiance of strict governmental social distancing rules designed to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
A video clip posted to social media shows Mourinho, who is wearing his Tottenham training gear, watching as two of his players, Sanchez and Sessegnon, jog side-by-side, despite guidelines which state that only members of the same household are allowed to exercise together.
Also on rt.com Ronaldinho RELEASED from Paraguayan jail after 32 days behind bars on fake passport chargeIn a statement released by the club after the footage spread on social media, Tottenham warned their players that they must correctly observe social distancing guidelines.
"All of our players have been reminded to respect social distancing when exercising outdoors," the club said.
"We shall continue to reinforce this message."
Piers Morgan, however, wasn't quite as diplomatic when he addressed the issue on Wednesday's edition of 'Good Morning Britain'.
"On a less positive note, we have found more idiots, I'm afraid," Morgan said of Mourinho and his offending players.
"Tottenham, at the moment, quite rightly, are getting vilified as a club for the decision taken by their billionaire owner Joe Lewis and their chief executive Daniel Levy to furlough staff when they’ve got gazillions to spend on players.
"And now we see the players and the manager having an unofficial training session, apparently not sanctioned by the club. I was very surprised about this because Mourinho has been very good in delivering food parcels for the media and so on.
"But for Jose Mourinho, the Tottenham manager, to be having an unofficial training session with players, in which they're clearly ignoring the social distancing rules. It sends out completely the wrong signal."
A medical expert appearing on the broadcast steadfastly agreed with Morgan, saying that Mourinho and his players undermined health guidelines and set a bad example for young football fans across the world.
Also on rt.com 'Truly sorry': Liverpool shamed into REVERSING staff pay decision during coronavirus crisis"It sends the wrong signal and people need to be constantly reminded of what the guidelines are: one form of exercise for a short period of time, not sitting on the grass sunbathing - that doesn't have any benefit, whereas exercise does," Dr Hilary Jones said.
"There are multiple reasons why we give these guidelines and if people follow them we will save lives and protect the NHS."