Villarreal’s decision to play Thomas Partey the night before he is due in court over multiple sexual offences received a predictable response inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night: an avalanche of boos any time he touched the ball.
Spurs supporters are predisposed to jeer any former Arsenal player when they face their team, but this was different. This stadium, which hosts numerous concerts each year, was designed in such a way that noise generated from the stands is contained within it; the boos and anti-Partey chants were loud coming at a period in the game that was otherwise quiet.
It was strange watching Partey knowing that the following morning he was due in Southwark Crown Court to answer five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against three women, which were alleged to have taken place between 2021 and 2022.
Partey denies the charges and is “welcoming the opportunity to finally clear his name,” according to his legal counsel, Jenny Wiltshire.
This was his first appearance in England since the Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges against him last month.
The atmosphere on Tottenham’s first Champions League tie in three years was always going to be boisterous, but Partey’s involvement supercharged it. No doubt it made people in the crowd feel uneasy and uncomfortable. Nothing about this situation is normal.
Villarreal signed the Ghanaian on a 12-month contract with the option of an extra year after the charges had been issued. President Fernando Roig and manager Marcelino have defended the decision.
“It is for the British justice system to determine what happened. At the moment, Partey is as innocent as the rest of us here,” Roig said last month.
“We are talking more about Thomas than the game,” said Marcelino in his pre-match press conference in north London, as if unprepared for Partey’s presence in the squad to dominate the agenda.
“I’m totally convinced that he is mentally prepared and technically prepared to play,” he said. “For sure, he’ll be ready. We are really happy that Thomas is with us for his football capacity and ability and his presence as a human.”
Later on, he added: “We’re interpreting stuff and talking about a player that could be totally innocent.”
The club’s association with him while proceedings are ongoing has upset some fans and placed them in an impossible moral quandary.
“Whether he is found guilty or innocent, I still believe it stains the image and the values of this club,” said Jose Angel Arnau, a spokesperson for Villarreal’s supporters’ club.
A Change.org petition launched by Villarreal Report, an independent content provider, against the Partey deal attracted around 1,100 signatures. They called it “the darkest day in the club’s history” and have “No to Thomas Partey” in their X bio.
There has been ambivalence from other supporters, though. Some have adopted a similar stance to the club’s leading figures: that Partey is innocent until proven guilty. There haven’t been major protests against his involvement in La Liga matches, according to leading football reporters in Spain.
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In joining a non-English Champions League club, there was always a strong chance that Partey would face Premier League opposition this season, with six competing in Europe’s premier competition. He can’t have relished such a swift return, especially to north London to face his old club’s fiercest adversaries.
Marcelino may have decided that the sporting aspect of including Partey in his squad outweighed the inevitably hostile reception he would receive. He came off the bench in the 75th minute and had nine touches, each one booed and whistled.
It’s indicative of the strangeness of the situation that as Villarreal’s staff and squad prepared to fly back to eastern Spain, they did so a representative light, Partey left behind to attend court the following morning.
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