'I did it on purpose!': Igor Tudor explains Arne Slot 'mix-up' after Tottenham boss mocked | OneFootball

Spurs boss suggests apparent gaffe before Liverpool draw was precursor for success

He explained: “What happened was my son, who is 20 years old, said in Croatia everyone is laughing with you because you did this mistake. I said, ‘What mistake?’

“I said to him, ‘You do know who is the guy?’. ‘No, I don’t know’. I said, ‘it’s Allan Dixon, I’m spending with him all days together’.

“So I came out and he’s standing in front of my bench. So what other coach can be there in front of it? It’s my training zone.

“He was there, I came to him to make a joke. If you understand, I came from this side (Dixon’s right), I touched him and go to the other side.

“When he turned I was not surprised, I was laughing.”

Dixon is a long-serving member of Spurs’ support staff, and is former chairman Daniel Levy’s brother-in-law.

Tudor went on, saying it was ‘ridiculous’ the clip had gone viral: “I can imagine in Croatia because maybe they don’t know who is Allan Dixon.

Allan Dixon (L) with then-Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino in 2019

Getty Images

“But in England they know that I don’t recognise the guy who I spent every day, ten hours?! So I come out and don’t know he is? It was a little bit ridiculous.

“Now (against Atletico) we did it on purpose to make a joke, because from now on I call him ‘Arne’! It’s not Allan, it’s Arne!

“But this is how it works, this 2026, it’s about news, to have fun. It’s part of the work of today. But sometimes it’s really ridiculous. I don’t understand this.

“But you (journalists) need to invent some news, you know better than me, you are part of this discussion.”

But will he do it again as Spurs chase a crucial three points against Forest on Sunday?

“We will see.”