Kyle Walker says former Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas “started crying in front of us” when he was sacked by chairman Daniel Levy in December 2013.
The Manchester City defender, who spent eight years at Spurs between 2009-17, described his former manager as “so, so nice,” on the latest episode of the You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker podcast.
Walker says he will “never, ever forget” the moment Villas-Boas addressed his Spurs team following his sacking, revealing that members of the squad also broke down in tears.
“I’ve got tears running down my eyes… Michael Dawson is welling up,” said the 34-year-old. “That’s how much he meant to the lads.”
Portuguese manager Villas-Boas took charge of Spurs in July 2012 and almost guided the club to the Champions League in his first season – finishing just one point behind fourth-placed Arsenal in the Premier League.
Spurs’ squad that year included 2012-13 PFA Player of the Year, Gareth Bale.
The Wales star made a then-world record £85.3m move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013 and, despite reinvesting in the squad, the team struggled the following season.
After a string of poor results, a chastening 5-0 defeat by Liverpool in December 2013 saw Villas-Boas given his marching orders.
Walker says he regrets the fact the team did not perform well enough to keep their manager in his job.
“Bale was a massive, massive loss,” he said. “They signed seven players off the back of the Bale money. There’s a lot of changes there and we just never really gelled in time for him [Villas-Boas] to then do well.”
Despite the fact that the team “didn’t do him justice”, Walker says of his former boss, “for 10 or 12 men to be crying because the manager’s gone, he’s done something well in the dressing room”.